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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25756069">Red Light, Green Light</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiciestmiso/pseuds/spiciestmiso'>spiciestmiso</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Promare (2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Blow Jobs, Childhood Friends, Comeplay, Dry Humping, First Dates, First Kiss, First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, Frottage, Grinding, Hand Jobs, Humor, M/M, Making Out, More tags to be added, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Porn With Plot, Public Display of Affection, Public Masturbation, Public Sex, Voyeurism, age gap, like a very questionable teen rom com but one of them isnt a teen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:33:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>22,905</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25756069</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiciestmiso/pseuds/spiciestmiso</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lio was clearly way too pent up from focusing so hard on his studies and now his new job- he couldn’t remember how long it’d been since he even went out with his friends at school or gotten laid. Too long, if he was starting to daydream about the naive boy-next-door who was, he reminded himself, still a junior for fuck’s sake.</p>
<p>This was supposed to be relaxing. He’d decided to come home in order to save money and get a breath of fresh air and just step away from all of the stress- instead, he’d stepped into an entirely new set of problems that had way worse repercussions than slightly raised blood pressure.</p>
<p>(The alternative title for this fic is, "Lio Fotia is a Bad Adult".)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>87</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Fair warning that Galo is underage in this fic- he's about 16 and Lio is 21.  If that makes you uncomfortable please don't read any further! It's all consensual, but still. Questionable, lol.</p>
<p>The first chapter is sfw, but after that this the fic will absolutely earn its E rating!! I will update tags w the chapters as they're added </p>
<p>Most of the fic is already written, so I'll probably update on a weekly basis. Thanks so much to my bestie for reading over this with me and always letting me bounce my bad ideas off of her. Anyways, first promare fic! Hope y'all enjoy my ramblings!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lio was coming home. Lio was finally, <i>finally</i> going to be home, and Galo could barely keep his excitement contained. Lio hadn’t been home in over two years! Admittedly, that was an exaggeration- he’d seen Lio a few times on his occasional visits to his dad on the weekend, but he hadn’t been <i>home</i> home since he’d left for college.</p>
<p>He knew he’d been busy. Last summer, he was offered an internship at some law firm in the city near his campus, but this summer he’d told Galo he was planning on coming home. Galo hadn’t pried as to the why’s of his decision yet, but he figured that would come later.</p>
<p>Galo checked his phone for the fourth time in twenty minutes, rereading the last text Lio had sent him.</p>
<p>
  <i>I’ll be home around noon tomorrow.</i>
</p>
<p>Lio had sent it to him last night, and he’d happily replied with a smiley emoji followed by several hearts. He hadn’t said anything after that, but Galo was sure he’d gotten his excitement across. But it was now fifteen minutes past noon, and he’d yet to see Lio’s car pull into the driveway of his house, just down the street from him a little ways. He could see the driveway from his bedroom window on the second floor. Resting his elbows on the windowsill and staring longingly outside, Galo sighed. He was too excited to worry about finishing his pre-calculus homework, so he’d left that abandoned on his messy desk.</p>
<p>His fingers hovered over the keyboard of his phone, thinking about messaging Lio again to see if he was still coming home soon, but when he glanced back out the window he finally saw a car that looked familiar- it was the same car Lio had been driving since he’d gotten his license a number of years back. Galo practically jumped up from where he’d been sitting and pulled his hoodie on while he raced down the stairs.</p>
<p>“Mom! Lio’s home! Gonna go say hi!” Galo called out, slipping his shoes on at the landing of the stairs by their front door.</p>
<p>“Oh! If he’s up for it, invite him over for dinner, sweetheart!” Galo’s mom yelled back from the kitchen, her voice a little distant but loud over the sound of running water. Galo yelled back an affirmative before throwing the door open and running outside. Lio’s house wasn’t far, so it was easy and quick to sprint over there- by the time he’d arrived, Lio was opening the trunk of his car.</p>
<p>“Lio!” Galo yelled, catching the blonde’s attention. He stood up straight and turned in his direction. His hair longer than it was the last time they’d seen each other- and was that an earring that glinted in the sunlight when he turned his head? Galo didn’t have time to contemplate that at the moment, because he was barreling into the smaller man. He wrapped his arms around Lio’s waist and lifted him up in a hug with ease, spinning him once before setting him down again.</p>
<p>Lio took a deep breath, his eyes looking dazed for a moment as though he’d been entirely caught off-guard by all of this.</p>
<p>“Galo?” He asked, once he’d regained his mental and physical balance. It took a moment before he smiled up at him, “Oh, my god, when did you grow an extra two feet?”</p>
<p>“While you abandoned me!” Galo reached down and pinched Lio’s cheek, sticking his tongue out at him, “Maybe you just got smaller at that fancy college of yours.”</p>
<p>“No way,” Lio laughed, swatting Galo’s hand away, “You definitely had some kind of freakish growth spurt. It hasn’t been that long since I last saw you-”</p>
<p>“It’s been over six months since you were here! And you hardly even said hello!” Galo whined and playfully punched Lio’s shoulder, but the older boy flinched and grabbed it. Galo sent him a sheepish smile, “Sorry, we’ve been doing crazy strength training for the football team even though the season doesn’t start ‘till fall. Coach says I gotta keep up if I wanna make quarterback.”</p>
<p>“Oh, you’re doing football now?” Lio asked as he rubbed his shoulder.</p>
<p>“Yeah! I thought I told you! We have so much catching up to do- like, when did you pierce your ear?” Galo brushed Lio’s hair aside, the blonde locks soft as silk in his fingers as he revealed the obsidian triangle-shaped earring. He had a few studs in his cartilage as well, Galo noted with awe.</p>
<p>Lio’s face turned a shade rosier, “O-oh, those? I’ve had most of them for over a year, now. I just got the tragus done recently so-”</p>
<p>“Is this one the tragum?” Galo asked, touching the inside of Lio’s ear out of curiosity. Lio pulled away at the touch, “Oh, sorry!”</p>
<p>“It’s- it’s a tragus, Galo, and yes, that’s the one. It’s newer, so it shouldn’t really be touched too much.” Lio stuttered out, turning back to the trunk of his car.</p>
<p>Galo sprung into action, crowding next to Lio and grabbing the duffel bags in his trunk, lifting them both up on his shoulders with a grin. They weren’t very heavy, “Let me help! Tell me how your drive was!”</p>
<p>“Now you’re just showing off,” Lio scoffed, but his voice sounded bemused. Nonetheless, he let Galo follow behind him carrying his belongings, “The drive was fine. Hit some traffic from construction here and there, but it wasn’t so bad. Lots of kids were moving out this weekend, though, so it was a little congested around the city…” He pushed the door open with his shoulder, letting Galo in before himself. The boy managed to take his shoes off while still carrying the bags on his shoulder.</p>
<p>“Dad!” Lio cried out, “I’m home!”</p>
<p>“Hi again Mr. Fotia!” Galo chimed in, enthusiastically. There was a thunk from upstairs and a muffled, indistinct reply. Galo looked to Lio who just shrugged and nodded towards the staircase, leading the way up to his room. </p>
<p>The door was shut tight, and when Lio opened it the room inside was chilled and the air stale. Everything was covered in a thin layer of dust, a true testament to Lio’s absence. When Galo dropped the duffel bags on the wooden floor, a few stray dust bunnies scattered away and Lio frowned down at the dirt before he scrunched up his face and sneezed. Galo couldn’t help but laugh- everything Lio did was so cute, just like always. Some things would change, but it was nice to find constancy in the little things. </p>
<p>“Ugh, I guess the first thing I ought to do is vacuum and dust,” Lio groaned, walking over to the window of his room. After throwing the thin curtains open, he tugged at the window but it didn’t budge. Galo excitedly rushed in again, putting his hands next to Lio’s to help him lift it up- it took a little doing, but eventually they managed to get it open halfway together. With a little huff, Lio sent Galo an thankful smile for their success.</p>
<p>“Hey, uh, I have a better idea than cleaning-” Galo started, a sudden wash of nervousness pouring over him. It wasn’t like Lio would take this as such, but it <i>felt</i> like he was about to ask him on a date, “Maybe we could go get some lunch? That old diner got turned into a Panera but it’s, like, still good, yknow?”</p>
<p>Lio sighed, running a finger over the top of his dresser and then flicking the dust off his fingers in disgust, “Well, I don’t see why not. I’d like to take a break so I suppose-”</p>
<p>“Great!” Galo shouted, his excitement betraying him again. He grabbed Lio’s wrists and pulled him out of the room, the blonde not putting up much resistance. After all, Galo had always been like this ever since Lio had known him. They’d grown up in the same neighborhood as children, and Galo had always been the more energetic of the two when they’d played together.</p>
<p>“Going out, dad! I’ll be back!” Lio shouted again, hoping he was heard. Another muffled reply seemed to imply he was, but Lio couldn’t be sure. Not that it mattered, much- his workaholic dad was likely to be cooped up in his office until late that night.</p>
<p>“Oh, oh! Guess what! I’m gonna drive!” Galo dug around in his pocket for a moment and pulled out a shiny keyring that seemed to be more novelty keychains than actual keys. </p>
<p>“Oh, no. When did you get your license and who on Earth let <i>you</i> behind the wheel?”</p>
<p>Galo rolled his eyes, “I’m a great driver! I rear-ended one guy once, but it was definitely his fault.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I’m sure the insurance agency loved that story,” Lio laughed, high pitched and charming just like Galo remembered. He couldn’t help but smile at him and laugh as well, even if it was at his own expense.</p>
<p>“I promise I won’t let anything happen to you, don’t worry!” Galo confessed, squeezing Lio’s hand in a way that he hoped conveyed his sincerity. He missed the slightly taken aback look on Lio’s face as he dragged the blonde behind him down the sidewalk, towards his own home again.</p>
<p>He popped back in to tell his mom he was going out (ignoring when she asked him if he’d finished his homework yet. Homework could wait- <i>Lio was home!</i>), and then he ran back out to the driveway and hopped into the driver’s seat of his pickup truck. Lio had already settled into the passenger’s seat, his seatbelt strapped on. He kicked one of the empty Gatorade bottles on the floor, sending Galo a judgemental look. </p>
<p>“I...I’ve been busy with school,” Galo explained, feeling just a touch embarrassed by how messy his car was. It was an old truck anyways, so it wasn’t like he needed to keep up appearances much.</p>
<p>“It’s covered in mud, too. Too busy to stop in a car wash?”</p>
<p>“No, too cheap,” Galo grinned back at him before he turned the key and started the engine. </p>
<p>“I’m sure you impress all your dates with a ride like this,” Lio teased, rolling his window down. It was a warm May day, the air here in the country probably fresher than what Lio was used to in the city. Galo ignored his comment, not wanting to admit right away that he didn’t exactly have a thriving love life lately- it was hard when the only person you’d ever actually liked lived about 100 miles north of you.</p>
<p>“So, how’s the city been? Lawyer school still kicking your ass?” </p>
<p>Lio let out another gentle laugh, “Lawyer school? It’s just called college, Galo. I’m not technically in ‘lawyer school’, yet. I haven’t even graduated or taken the LSAT.”</p>
<p>Galo pouted, pulling out of his driveway and keeping his eyes focused on the road, “Yeah, but that’s what you’re gonna do, right? So I might as well call it lawyer school. You’re a lawyer and you’re going to school, so, lawyer school.”</p>
<p>“The way your mind works is absolutely fascinating,” Lio sighed, leaning on the car door, “Sometimes I think I should switch to psychology so I can study the way you think. Maybe neurosurgery so I could poke around up there. Find out if there’s any brain cells at all. Imagine, Galo Thymos, the first zero-celled organism.”</p>
<p>“Hey!” Galo pouted, “I might not have brain cells, but I definitely have, like, skin cells and stuff at least. Those count.”</p>
<p>Lio crossed his legs and sent Galo an amused look, snorting with laughter briefly, “Well, lawyer school’s been fine. Stressful, as always. I took twenty-one credits this semester, so honestly, I’m relieved to have the break.”</p>
<p>“You never did tell me why you decided to come home this summer. Didn’t that law firm you worked for last summer want you to come back?”</p>
<p>Lio looked surprised that Galo remembered that, but he shook his head, “They downsized, didn’t need another intern this summer. I have another job, but the work is all remote and it’s just part-time, so...I just figured I could sublet my apartment for a few months and save money on rent by coming home. Plus, I did think it would be nice to see dad and old friends again, I guess.”</p>
<p>Galo beamed with pride, knowing by now how to read Lio’s emotions- that was probably the closest he was going to get to hearing Lio say “I missed you”. Galo was fairly certain none of Lio’s friends lived nearby any more.</p>
<p>They spent the rest of the ride and their lunch catching up with each other’s lives. After lunch they found a spot at a local park to hang out in- Galo was so fascinated by everything Lio had been up to in the city, feeling like he hadn’t been able to accomplish anything at all in the years he’d been in high school. Lio assured him his running list of school activities was far more impressive than anything he’d done at Galo’s age.</p>
<p>Galo didn’t think it was possible, but by the time they’d swung back to his house for dinner (Galo dragging him along once again, insisting Lio had to stay ‘cause his mom invited him), he felt even more infatuated with his childhood crush. </p>
<p>“So, Lio- how long are you going to be around?” Galo’s mom asked, bringing a platter of food out to the table- it looked like enough to feed a family of 8, despite the fact that it was just Galo and his parents in the house. Galo probably ate the remaining 5 servings on most nights. </p>
<p>“Oh, I’m here for the whole summer- my new job is remote.” Lio went on to explain his circumstances once again, making conversation with Galo’s parents while they all shared their meal. They’d always been rather enamored with Lio, as he was seemingly the opposite of everything Galo was. As far as they were concerned, he’d been a fairly quiet, academic, responsible kid once he’d gotten over a brief rebellious period in his early teenaged years. </p>
<p>That was how Galo had always remembered him from the years Lio had been his babysitter. He somehow had managed to keep Galo from killing himself all that time, so he had to be <i>somewhat</i> responsible. Galo had been pretty much nonstop as a kid. His mom always joked there was a reason he was a single child, but Galo hadn’t gotten the joke until more recently.</p>
<p>For the brief respite Lio gave his parents in Galo’s youth, they were eternally grateful and it showed in the way they talked to him now, beaming with pride like he was their own child as he talked about making the Dean’s List.</p>
<p>“That’s an accomplishment to be proud of!” Galo’s dad boomed, his voice loud. It was no small wonder where Galo had gotten his own energy, “Not that we’d expect anything less. Galo-”</p>
<p>Galo gave a start, finally taking his eyes off of Lio to look at his dad.</p>
<p>“Why don’t you let Lio tutor you? Didn’t the coach say you’d need to get your grades up if you wanted to stay on the team next term?” </p>
<p>Galo wanted to die from embarrassment over the fact that his dad would bring his grades up in front of Lio- he’d always struggled with them, but it wasn’t like he wanted Lio to know that! He was so smart! </p>
<p>“Dad,” Galo whined, extending the “a” sound and slumping in his chair.</p>
<p>“Oh, I think that’s a fine idea. Lio, do you think you’d have time for that? You must be awfully busy with your own work…” Galo’s mom chimed in and turned to Lio, who was laughing a bit awkwardly at the whole exchange.</p>
<p>“If Galo wants my help, it wouldn’t be any trouble at all,” Lio agreed, sending a sympathetic smile in Galo’s direction. Galo peeked out from behind the hands covering his face in time to catch the look. It made his whole face turn red, so he was grateful he’d already covered it.</p>
<p>He groaned to hide the surge of excitement he felt at the idea of Lio spending more time with him- even if it was for the purpose of tutoring. It would give him an excuse to stay close, right? He only had to endure the tutoring for the next month ‘till his final exams were up, and then he wouldn’t have to worry about it for a whole three months. </p>
<p>“Ugh, I guess. I really wanna play on the team next term…”  Galo put his elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand briefly before his mom swatted his arm with a spoon to remind him of the no elbows rule. He moved his elbow and rubbed the spot where he’d been hit before looking at Lio who was, once again, laughing behind his hand.</p>
<p>Galo felt the same flutter in his chest again, overwhelmed by how pretty Lio looked behind those slim fingers. </p>
<p>“So when time do you meet up?” Galo asked, tripping over his words. He would’ve been embarrassed if Lio hadn’t started laughing harder. Galo couldn’t help but laugh with him, excited that he’d managed to make his stoic-faced older neighbour giggle. He never really minded making a fool of himself when it meant Lio would be laughing.</p>
<p>“I don’t work on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Lio answered, despite the garbled mess Galo’s question had been, “Should I come over and see you after school then?”</p>
<p>“Yes!” Galo enthused, grinning, “I can’t wait!” </p>
<p>“Oh, you’ve made him excited to learn. That’s a first,” Galo’s mom said, smiling warmly at Lio.</p>
<p>Galo was definitely excited, but not about learning. The idea of spending some quality time alone with Lio for the first time in years set off all kinds of signals in his brain.</p>
<p>Galo frowned down at the papers in front of him, erasing his work for the third time. </p>
<p>“Try it again. I know you can do this, Galo. Just think about the last problem and apply the same methodology…”</p>
<p>Galo put his head down on his desk, not caring if he got graphite on his cheeks, “Lio,” he sighed, frowning, “We’ve been on this same problem for five minutes now…”</p>
<p>“And?”</p>
<p>“Why can’t you just <i>tell</i> me the answer?” he whined, looking up at the older man with the best puppy-dog eyes he could manage. There was a brief flash of sympathy on Lio’s face before his eyes hardened and he flicked Galo’s ear with his pen.</p>
<p>“I won’t be there to tell you the answer when you’re taking your final next month, Galo.”</p>
<p>“Ow!” Galo sat up, covering his ear and glaring at Lio, “If we shave half your head and dye your hair and spike it up, do you think we could fool ‘em?”</p>
<p>Lio laughed, “Maybe three years ago, when you weren’t a foot taller than me and an additional half of my body weight in muscle. I’m afraid you’re on your own. Now, do the problem again.”</p>
<p>Distracted, Galo straightened in his chair and flexed his biceps, his fitted shirt stretching around the muscle there, “Oh, you noticed?”</p>
<p>Galo grinned at Lio, watching his face turn slightly pink before he rolled his eyes at him. He still considered that a victory, even as Lio said, “How could I not? You like to make me aware of it at every given opportunity.” The blonde tapped his pen against the workbook that was still open on Galo’s desk, “Problem. Now.”</p>
<p>Galo deflated, shoulders sagging in defeat. So much for wooing Lio to the point that he forgot he was actually here to tutor Galo. He picked up his pencil again, back to staring at the same numbers. </p>
<p>This wasn’t what he’d been hoping for when Lio had agreed to help him study. In his opinion, they were doing way too much studying and not enough goofing off. He tapped the tip of the pencil against the paper as he tried to find a good solution, albeit not for the math on the page.</p>
<p>Suddenly struck with inspiration, he flung the pencil over his shoulder so that it landed on his bed, startling Lio briefly. “Whoops, dropped it,” Galo said, his voice amused at the way Lio let out a sigh.</p>
<p>“Galo.” He said, his voice flat.</p>
<p>“Lio?” </p>
<p>“Go pick up your pencil.”</p>
<p>Galo put on a dramatic show of being deep in thought, putting his chin between his thumb and index finger and closing his eyes real tight. After a moment, he opened them and brightened up as though he’d had an idea, “What if you came with me!”</p>
<p>Lio furrowed his brows and glanced at where the pencil had landed atop his bed before he let out another laugh in mild disbelief, “Excuse me?”</p>
<p>“Aw, c’mon! I’ve been awake since 6 am, I could use a nap!” Galo explained, his voice feigning complete innocence. Lio looked both mildly relieved and embarrassed with himself.</p>
<p>“You can nap by yourself just fine.”</p>
<p>“You used to nap with me all the time!” Galo insisted, leaning sideways in his desk chair towards the blonde.</p>
<p>“We were both easily five years younger and you were definitely three feet smaller.”</p>
<p>“That just means I can be the big spoon now,” Galo teased, resting his chin on his hands and leaning even further towards Lio.</p>
<p>“No way,” Lio refused, his glare cross despite the way his cheeks were blushing bright. Galo couldn’t help but feel proud that he could make Lio so flustered so easily. That was a good sign, right?</p>
<p>“Sooo… <i>you</i> want to be the big spoon, then?”</p>
<p>“That is not what I meant and you know it. Are you going to finish your math homework or not, Galo?” Lio asked, stubborn as always.</p>
<p>Galo, equally as stubborn, ignored him and kept pressing forward, “Are you gonna come nap with me or not, Lio?”</p>
<p>“I am not going to-” Lio cut off his sentence with a sharp yelp as Galo pounced up from his seat and grabbed him around the waist, lifting him up with ease, “Galo! Put me down!”</p>
<p>“No! We’re gonna nap!” Galo laughed, transfixed by how easily he could wrap his arm around Lio’s small waist and just heft him upwards. He’d always looked up to Lio, quite literally, so it seemed natural he was fascinated by their sudden size difference. Lio hit his back playfully before being tossed on to the mattress and Galo followed soon after, careful not to get too close and to roll over to the side quickly. He wasn’t trying to come off like some kind of pervert, after all- no, he wanted to do this whole thing the proper way, even if his flirting was more than forward.</p>
<p>Lio looked like a bird with its feathers ruffled- his shirt riding up and exposing the pale skin of his stomach, hair tousled from being manhandled and- oh. So much for not coming off like some kind of pervert. Galo was quick to grab his covers and pull them up over his waist.</p>
<p>“Jesus Christ, Galo-” Lio huffed, fixing his shirt and running a hand through his hair in an attempt to remain dignified. He took a deep breath, “Alright, Alright. You can have a fifteen minute nap, and then we need to get back to work. It’s been a half hour and you’re still on problem three.”</p>
<p>“No talking about math during nap time,” Galo said, silently cheering at his victory. He rolled over and faced Lio with a smile, the other boy forced close by the nature of his twin-sized bed, “You’re gonna nap too?” Lio grimaced at him in return.</p>
<p>“Yes, I’ll set an alarm. You’ve always been impossible to argue with. I should have known this was a bad idea.” Lio wiggled until he pulled his phone from the pocket of his jeans, tapping the screen to set a timer for the both of them.</p>
<p>“I’m not impossible to argue with, you’re just weak.” <i>Weak to me</i>, Galo wanted to add, but he held his tongue for Lio’s sake. He was pretty sure if he teased him any more, Lio might actually storm out of the house.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! This chapter is officially where the nsfw starts! Thanks for the kudos &amp; comments on the first chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>What the fuck was all of this about, exactly?</i>
</p>
<p>Lio stared up at the ceiling of his childhood bedroom, the old fan rattling in a way that had once been familiar enough to fall asleep to but now seemed to taunt him for even trying to close his eyes.</p>
<p>He groaned and flipped over once again, hugging his pillow to his face. He couldn’t stop thinking about his last few tutoring sessions with Galo. The first one had gone off the rails almost immediately, and the next two after that had gone about equally as well. He hardly felt like he was making the kind of progress Galo needed in order to pass his exams in a few weeks, but beyond that he left the Thymos household more ashamed of himself every single time.</p>
<p>He didn’t remember Galo ever being this touchy-feely. He was always asking for hugs or picking him up or squeezing him tight to his chest. And when did his hands get so big, anyways? Lio had nearly lost it earlier today when Galo had held up his hand and pressed their palms together, making a stupid comment about how tiny Lio was compared to him. He was nearly five years younger than him, he had <i>no right</i> to have that kind of attitude or this kind of effect-</p>
<p>Lio groaned louder, attempting to drown out the thoughts in his mind. This was absolutely disgusting. There was no way Galo, the snot-nosed brat he’d taken care of during his formative years, had any idea of the kind of effect his words and actions had on Lio. And how would he? <i>Why</i> would he? Lio was probably like a big brother to him- heavens knew Galo’s parents treated him like family more than his own father did on most days. Galo had gotten all the hospitality and warmth from his mother and the bravado and energy of his father. For the life of him Lio couldn’t figure out where he got his newfound height and physique, though.</p>
<p>There he went again, thinking about how broad Galo’s shoulders had gotten and how thick his arms and thighs had become. </p>
<p>This was so, so bad.</p>
<p>He was clearly way too pent up from focusing so hard on his studies and now his new job- he couldn’t remember how long it’d been since he even went out with his friends at school or gotten laid. Too long, if he was starting to daydream about the naive boy-next-door who was, he reminded himself, still a junior for <i>fuck’s</i> sake.</p>
<p>This was supposed to be relaxing. He’d decided to come home in order to save money and get a breath of fresh air and just step away from all of the stress- instead, he’d stepped into an entirely new set of problems that had way worse repercussions than slightly raised blood pressure.</p>
<p>At least there was a deadline. Mid-June, and Galo would be finished with his junior year of high school. He’d probably be too distracted with playing video games and hanging out with friends his own age to actually bother messing with Lio. And if Galo didn’t get an A or a B, that wasn’t his problem. The boy was just too determined to find any and every way to distract them both.</p>
<p>Lio found sleep hard to come by. The next few nights were fine until Wednesday, when he knew he’d be meeting Galo once again to attempt to help him write some inane analysis paper or his pre-calc workbook the next day. He barely slept, fitful through the whole affair until he woke up bright and early. The sun always hit his bedroom at the worst angle this time of year. He slogged through his normal morning ritual of coffee and checking his emails. He was having a back and forth with the financial aid office at the moment, which didn’t help his mood. Then, he had errands to run around town before finally it was time to head over to the Thymos household with nauseating butterflies in his stomach.</p>
<p>Mrs. Thymos answered the door as per usual. She smiled at him, delighted and surprised even though Lio knew fully well that she was expecting him. She’d already made a tray of store-bought snacks and poorly mixed powdered lemonade, and Lio vaguely wondered how Galo stayed as fit as he did. He supposed a teenage metabolism and a workout routine had its perks.</p>
<p>She stirred the glasses of lemonade a bit more, babbling on, “I really appreciate that you’re taking time out of your schedule to help Galo, sweetheart. He was so excited when you told him you were going to be home for the summer. He’s always looked up to you, you know?”</p>
<p>Lio swallowed the lump in his throat, “Y-you don’t say?”</p>
<p>“I mean it!” She whirled around with the tray in hand, her skirt billowing with a flourish and the glasses rattling dangerously, “We love having you here, too. You know we all think of you as part of the family, right?”</p>
<p>
  <i>Bad.</i>
</p>
<p>Lio nodded his head, motions stiff as the tray was handed off to him. He wanted to return her kindness, but he felt certain that if Mrs. Thymos had any idea what had been keeping him up at night she would’ve sooner thrown the lemonade in his face. </p>
<p>“You’re welcome here any time. Now, he’s upstairs as usual. Good luck, I heard it’s physics today.” She gave him a wink and shooed him away towards the stairs, returning to her tasks in the kitchen.</p>
<p>Lio knocked on Galo’s door to announce himself before entering, only to find Galo in the middle of changing out of his stuffier school clothes. Halfway into his tank top, he turned to the door and blinked at Lio before looking down at the tray. </p>
<p>“Snacks! Hell yeah!” He cheered, finally lifting the shirt above his head and pulling it on. Lio couldn’t help but openly stare at the fluid motion, watching Galo’s pecs move when he lifted his toned arms above his head. </p>
<p>“Lio? Earth to Lio?” Galo asked, settling into his desk chair, his book bag on the floor by his side. </p>
<p>Lio shook his head, his grip on the tray so tight his knuckles were turning white. Good thing he was pale enough it was hard to tell. He cleared his throat and put the tray down on top of some old magazines piled on Galo’s desk- it was the closest thing to a clear, flat surface he had at his disposal in Galo’s mess of a room.</p>
<p>“Yes, uh, snacks. Courtesy of Mrs. Thymos.” </p>
<p>“You mean you didn’t make these special for me and bring them all the way from your house?” Galo asked, sarcastic but not in an antagonistic way. Galo leaned over to dig around in his backpack until he pulled his laptop out.</p>
<p>“Oh, is your physics homework online?” Lio asked, desperate to cling to any kind of distraction. Anything to forget that he’d just been staring at Galo’s chest without any shame. At least, without any <i>immediate</i> shame. There was certainly a lot of shame in the aftermath.</p>
<p>“Huh? No, I thought we’d watch a movie, ‘cause you brought snacks!” Galo explained, opening his laptop and picking some dirt off of the screen before he clicked the power button.</p>
<p>“Galo, your mother has snacks for us every single tutoring session, you can’t use it as an excuse to not do your work.”</p>
<p>“I mean, I can if you let me,” Galo said, opening his browser. Lio sighed and slammed the laptop shut, nearly catching Galo’s fingers in it. Galo jumped back slightly, looking up at Lio in surprise, “Hey!”</p>
<p>“Absolutely not. We’re not messing around today, Galo. You need to do your homework. Your parents aren’t paying me to sit around watching movies with you for the next hour, so we’re going to-”</p>
<p>“They’re paying you?” Galo interrupted, the usual brightness in his demeanor turning a bit dark. </p>
<p>Lio blinked down at him. Huh? “You...of course they are. They hired me to be your tutor, and I feel bad that I haven’t been more strict with you. I feel like I’ve been an awful teacher.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t know you were being paid.” Galo actually looked upset for a moment. He pushed his laptop away and grabbed a thick textbook from his bag, along with a spiral bound notebook that looked as though it had barely been used. He flipped through the pages until he found the one he was looking for and began reading.</p>
<p>It was like some kind of switch had been flipped in a way Lio hadn’t seen, and he wasn’t quite sure if he should be worried or relieved. On one hand, seeing Galo’s entire demeanor change so drastically in mere moments wasn’t exactly pleasant. On the other hand, if it meant he could get in an actual session of work and a peaceful night’s sleep, wasn’t that worth something?</p>
<p>Did Galo really not realize Lio had been getting paid for their hourly after school tutor sessions? It wasn’t much, just a twenty, but it was nice to pay for his gas expenses so he hadn’t refused it upon Mrs. Thymos’ insistence. </p>
<p>More importantly, what did it matter? </p>
<p>Lio grabbed the folding chair leaning against the wall and set it up next to Galo, watching him carefully as he read the problem and started writing in his notebook. </p>
<p>Who was he kidding- it was obvious why it mattered. If Galo had been under the impression Lio was doing this for free, it meant they were really just hanging out as friends. It suddenly made sense why he was trying to goof off all of the time. He didn’t really see this as a study session. Or, Lio supposed, he did, but this was how he probably studied with his friends at school, too. As in, he didn’t get any studying done.</p>
<p>Suddenly, Lio wasn’t a friend. He was an actual tutor. It left a bad taste in his mouth.</p>
<p>“Galo,” Lio started, already regretting his choices. Galo glanced at him, looking like a kicked puppy. It hurt his heart more than actually accidentally kicking a puppy, “When you finish your work, we can watch a movie. Sound good?”</p>
<p>Galo instantly perked up, “Okay!” He agreed, putting his nose down in the book again with newfound enthusiasm. He worked quickly, scribbling down answers for Lio to correct and walk him through. Most of them weren’t done right and it took the better half of their designated hour of work to get through the several math problems involved, but eventually they did it. </p>
<p>Getting through the English homework was a lot quicker- it turned out Galo had listened to him and managed to struggle through the required chapters that were due the next day, so they just went through an online summary to refresh him on some of the main plot points so he’d be good to go on his quiz tomorrow. There was more math homework, but it was something Galo understood a lot better this time around (Lio hoped, thanks to his extended explanations of the previous two weeks of lessons). </p>
<p>Lio stayed for dinner again (to the delight of Galo’s parents). By the time Galo had finished his third serving, Lio had just barely eaten his first. While he helped clean up, Galo rummaged through the pantry for any manner of sweets and candy for them to munch on while they watched a movie. Lio was quiet while the Thymos family had a loud back-and-forth dialogue about all of the movies they’d all watched recently. It was hard to follow, but they all seemed to enjoy themselves if the laughter was anything to go by. It was so opposite the quiet, calm atmosphere Lio lived with back at his house. </p>
<p>Before he knew it, Galo had his wrist grasped in one hand and a plethora of junk food in the other, “Thanks for dinner, mom!” He called back, once again forcing Lio to keep up with him. The blond barely had time to give a thanks of his own while Galo took the stairs two at a time. </p>
<p>Galo tossed the junk food on the bed and told Lio to settle in before he grabbed his laptop. Lio wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that, so he just grabbed Galo’s pillows and put them against the wall so they could lean against it and sit side-by-side on the bed comfortably and, more importantly, further apart. Galo made a pit stop at the door to make sure it was shut tight before he hopped into the bed as well, computer balanced on his lap while he typed in the address for some streaming service.</p>
<p>“Whaddya wanna watch?” Galo asked, scrolling through the films. Lio felt almost certain his honest opinion wouldn’t intrigue Galo, and he still kind of felt bad for what he’d said earlier, so he shrugged.</p>
<p>“I don’t know. Something with action, I guess? You pick.”</p>
<p>“Ohh, do you like thrillers? There’s this crazy one about this guy who drives a car for some drug lords I heard about forever ago, I’ve been meaning to watch it-” Galo prattled on, proceeding to open a google tab and type in a summary of a movie he’d heard about ages ago. Lio couldn’t help but laugh at his methodology, even if after a few minutes of searching it did inevitably work. </p>
<p>Galo opened the film and let it load while he unceremoniously climbed over Lio to reach the lamp on his nightstand. </p>
<p>Lio leaned back against the wall, but Galo wasn’t exactly easy to avoid given the small confines. He hated the way the close contact made his heart pound in his chest, even as brief as it was, “you could have asked me to get the lights,” Lio argued, his voice weak.</p>
<p>“You’re a guest! That’s not polite,” Galo reasoned, and Lio couldn’t say he quite understood his point, but he didn’t have the strength to retort. Instead he let Galo settle back into his seat and just tried to regulate his breathing.</p>
<p>Okay, he was going to drive back up to the city for the weekend tomorrow after work and he was going to find any of his friends who would go bar hopping with him. If he absolutely had to, he’d go alone- even if it meant risking going home with an ugly stranger, it would be better than this hell he’d trapped himself in here in his hometown.</p>
<p>Galo’s room was dark now, save for the cool light of his monitor. Galo pushed the laptop towards the edge of the bed and made himself comfortable, leaning against both the pillows and Lio’s shoulders despite their height difference. Lio felt himself tense at the contact- he’d purposefully tried to put their pillows a little ways apart, but Galo had found a way to stretch himself out and occupy as much space as possible in order to lean on Lio. </p>
<p>This was a mistake. He should’ve never suggested watching a movie with him. It would have been better to just let Galo get over it instead of trying to make him feel better- damn his soft heart. It just hurt to think Galo would get the impression that they weren’t friends, after all. Or that Lio didn’t enjoy his time with him. Truth be told, he absolutely would have done the tutoring without the payment, but...was a broke college student with loans going to say no to money?</p>
<p>He shook himself out of his thoughts when Galo laughed at some on-screen joke. The other boy was clearly totally distracted by the film, so Lio felt foolish allowing himself to overthink the whole situation. Perhaps this wasn’t so different, after all? It was just like when he was little- when Galo would build pillow fortresses in the living room and sneak the portable DVD player from his dad’s office so they could eat burnt microwave popcorn and watch whatever silly superhero movie Galo was fixated on at the time.</p>
<p>It was entirely innocent and mundane. Galo wasn’t mad at him, and he definitely wasn’t going to try anything on him, so why was he so worked up? Lio willed himself to let his shoulders fall and to un-clench his jaw, relaxing into the way Galo leaned on him. It was kind of sweet, really, the way Galo was still so childish in many ways. He was a terrible person for letting his thoughts run so wildly.</p>
<p>Admittedly, the start of the movie was a bit slow- a lot of dialogue and talk about politics, which wasn’t quite the thriller vibe either of them had thought they were signing up for. They were only about ten minutes in when Galo shifted his position slightly. When Lio turned away from the screen to see what was up, Galo was looking right at him. The direct eye contact had Lio tensing up again.</p>
<p>“Hey, Lio,” Galo said, as though he needed to get his attention any further. </p>
<p>“Uh, yes?” Lio asked, averting his eyes briefly to the computer screen before looking back at Galo, whose blue eyes were still staring intensely at him.</p>
<p>“You know I’m not a kid any more, right?”</p>
<p>“Wh-what?” Lio spluttered, “Where did that come from?”</p>
<p>“It’s just that since you’ve been home, I feel like you still treat me like a kid. You’re not just hanging out with me to make me feel better right now, are you?” Galo asked, his voice wavering slightly, but as always he seemed unafraid of his own honesty. It probably frightened Lio more than it did Galo. How was it that someone else’s honesty could make him feel so vulnerable?</p>
<p>“No, of course not. I like being with you, Galo. We’re friends,” Lio explained, the guilt tugging at his heart again. Perhaps Galo <i>had</i> still been upset with him, after all. He wanted to assuage his worries.</p>
<p>Unexpectedly, Galo looked a little offended at this. “That’s fine, but, like...what if I told you I didn’t really wanna be friends?”</p>
<p>The guilt was replaced with confusion, and Lio arched a brow at the younger man, “I don’t follow.”</p>
<p>There was a smile that tugged at the corner of Galo’s lips, different from his usual overbearing grin. “I’ve missed you a lot, Lio. I always kind of thought it was just a dumb crush, but the last two weeks have totally made me rethink that. I just wanna be honest with you- I’ve never liked anyone as much as you before.”</p>
<p>Lio felt his head spinning. That was...a lot to take in. It really wasn’t what he’d been expecting. He thought he’d been misreading signals for the past two weeks, and while it was a slight relief to find out he wasn’t absolutely insane, it was alarming in a lot of other ways. He needed a moment to process this, but he knew he didn’t exactly have that luxury. He needed to stomp this out before things got even worse.</p>
<p>“Galo, I...that’s sweet, but you have to understand, you’re five years-”</p>
<p>“Ugh!” Galo pushed away from the wall of the bed and got on to his knees, “See, that’s what I thought you were gonna say!”</p>
<p>“I mean, what <i>else</i> am I supposed to-”</p>
<p>Galo swung his legs around and climbed into Lio’s lap, straddling him in one smooth move that gave Lio no opportunity to escape. He sat himself in his lap, his hands pressed firmly against the wall on either side of Lio’s head. His face was close enough that their noses almost touched, but Lio could hardly make out his facial features in the dark, the laptop acting as a dim backlight. Still, he could feel his breath and the heat radiating from his cheeks. Or maybe the heat was from <i>his</i> cheeks? He wasn’t sure, it was hard to tell what part of the space was his own any longer with how close Galo was to him.</p>
<p>“Let me <i>show</i> you I’m not a kid any more.” he said, his voice breathy and showing his first hint of nervousness.</p>
<p>
  <i>Stomp this out. Push him away. He’s bigger than you, but he’d probably be put off balance long enough if you just shoved him right now. He’s way too young. You watched him grow up. You kissed his scraped knees and put bandaids on them and bought ice cream for him from the neighbourhood ice cream truck. This is wrong, wrong, wrong.</i>
</p>
<p>Lio’s mind was racing a million thoughts a second, all of them very convincing, but he found he couldn’t make his body listen to any reason. Galo’s hands moved from the wall to Lio’s face, cupping his cheeks gently as he tilted his head and leaned forward to bring their lips together. It was tentative and testing at first. When Lio didn’t put up any resistance, Galo pressed forward and pushed Lio’s head back against the wall to kiss him deeper.</p>
<p>It was...charming. Lio hadn’t ever imagined how Galo would have kissed, but somehow this felt exactly right. He didn’t pull away and let Galo take the lead in the kiss, tilting his head and opening his mouth. The tongue that poked out was shy and the moment Lio relented, he was practically all over him. He brought his hands down to Lio’s waist, the touch making the blonde shudder involuntarily.</p>
<p>He gasped into the kiss, swallowing air as though he’d forgotten to breathe for the past thirty seconds, and Galo took it as enthusiasm to keep going. He wrapped his other hand around Lio’s wrist and guided it up under his tank top, fingertips gently brushing across the hard muscle of his abs.</p>
<p>“See?” Galo hummed, voice heady as he finally pulled away from Lio, a strand of thick saliva connecting their lips. Lio felt drool dribble down his chin, unsure at this point whose it even was, or if it even mattered. It was possibly one of the sloppiest kisses he’d ever been on the receiving end of, but he hated how into it he was.</p>
<p>It was just so Galo- messy, offbeat, and absolutely brimming with naivety. Not that he’d been of much use during the whole affair, since it seemed like his higher brain function had all but abandoned him. His blood was definitely somewhere else.</p>
<p>Galo must have noticed he was still trying to grapple with this revelation. He leaned in again, pressing his chest flush to Lio’s as he talked into the crook of his neck. </p>
<p>“You were staring at my chest earlier. Did you think I didn’t notice? You can touch, if you want to.” </p>
<p>Lio felt a new wash of shame hit him, unaware that his cheeks could glow even warmer. Had he been staring so openly earlier? Enough that Galo had apparently noticed it? How often had he been ogling Galo?</p>
<p>He swallowed thickly, his fingers twitching on Galo’s abs, itching with want. Galo started planting short, encouraging kisses on his neckline at random, without any obvious practice or care. It was charming in how earnest it was. Lio was willing to bet he’d just been…</p>
<p>Oh, god, had he just been Galo’s first kiss? His dick jumped at the thought, straining against the seam of his leather pants. He let out a soft, involuntary whine at the way Galo happily shifted his hips. There was no way he could lie his way out of the situation at this point. He let his hand wander upwards, palming the soft muscle on his chest. He brushed his thumb over Galo’s nipple, teasing the hard bud when it elicited a groan from the younger man.</p>
<p>“Ah, Lio…” Galo lost focus on the kisses he’d been scattering along Lio’s neck, pressing his forehead to Lio’s shoulder instead, “The real thing is so much better than I always dreamed it’d be,” he muttered, hips still rocking against Lio’s dick. He could feel how hard Galo was, too, his own clothed erection dragging across Lio’s stomach every time he erratically hitched his hips upwards, like some kind of hormone-driven…</p>
<p>Lio didn’t want to finish that thought. He also didn’t want to think about the implications of what Galo had just said. How often had he thought about doing this, anyways? He wondered if Galo ever woke up sweaty from wet-dreams involving him. He didn’t want to admit how hot the mental image was- though he imagined it probably wasn’t much different than right now, with the way Galo was rubbing his cock against him desperately.</p>
<p>Lio shuddered at the thought, pressing his thumbnail mindlessly into Galo’s nipple as he pawed at his chest. Galo jolted at the sensation, swallowing down a loud whine. His hips stuttered in their movement, and it took Lio a moment to realize Galo had come just from a bit of making out and dry-humping. He might have taken more pride in how quickly he’d managed to get him off if he wasn’t feeling so disgustingly horny himself. With his free hand, Lio reached up and grabbed Galo’s hair, gently tugging his head so he looked up. He initiated the kiss this time, his motions a lot more practiced. Galo immediately returned the kiss, his cheeks flushed bright red as his dick twitched against Lio’s stomach, smearing cum on his naval through the fabric of his shorts.</p>
<p>Once Galo had evened out his breathing, he had a moment of clarity and realization that Lio’s dick was still hard, “Shit, sorry, I...let me help,” He offered, the sentiment almost so innocent as to give Lio whiplash. He scooted backwards so he wasn’t on Lio’s lap any longer. Without any hesitation, he started undoing the buttons and zipper on Lio’s pants, pulling his underwear down just enough to pull his dick out.</p>
<p>Lio watched this happen, the blush spreading from his cheeks to his shoulders. Galo was so self-assured in everything he was doing, but moments before he wrapped his hand around his dick, Lio intervened.</p>
<p>“W-wait, Galo,” he said, reaching a slightly shaky hand out to grab Galo’s wrist. He flipped his hand over so that it was palm-up. Galo watched him curiously, mesmerized by the way Lio bent over and spit into his palm. He made a face at that, more out of confusion than any kind of disgust. In lieu of a verbal explanation, he led Galo’s hand back to his cock. He figured Galo would get the gist from there, but there was no goddamn way he was going to let Galo give him a dry hand-job in his childhood bedroom. If he was going to commit to this, he was at least going to have fun while catching a bus to the worst part of hell.</p>
<p>Galo seemed, at least, to be pretty familiar with how to do this- it was different than doing it to yourself, but the motions were similar enough. Lio was helpful, too, arching his back and letting out soft little moans whenever Galo did something that felt nice. He had always responded well to positive reinforcement, and though he’d never been a fast learner, he picked up on this quickly enough. </p>
<p>Depraved as it was, it was hot to watch Galo spit into his own hand and go back to jerking him off. He was watching Lio so intently for all the little signs of pleasure, his tongue poking out of his mouth as he pressed the flat of his palm against the head of Lio’s cock. It, embarrassingly, didn’t take long before Lio came into Galo’s fist, his hips jerking upwards before he slumped against the pillow, sweat making the fabric stick to his back. Gross.</p>
<p>Galo didn’t even hesitate to stick his fingers into his mouth, that same devious tongue of his cleaning cum off of his fingers, “You taste really good. We should try something else next time,” Galo said, seemingly unaffected by this entire affair. In fact, he seemed more chipper than ever, if just a little awe-struck.</p>
<p>Lio, however, didn’t have any lust to cloud his judgement now. He brought his hands up to cover his face and groaned. The movie was still playing in the background, the loud sounds of explosions going off. He hadn’t noticed them before, but god did he hope they’d been loud enough to cover up any kinds of noises they’d been making. Galo’s parents were in the living room, almost directly under Galo’s bedroom, <i>holy shit what had he been thinking!?</i></p>
<p>Wait. Lio looked up from behind his hands, meeting Galo’s eyes. The boy was staring at him.</p>
<p>“Next time?” Lio asked, his heart pounding for more reasons than one.</p>
<p>“Well, yeah. I was talking about blowjobs. Jeeze, I’d think you would-”</p>
<p>“I know what you were talking about, Galo I just- there can’t be a <i>next time</i>!” Lio sat up, sweat still beading on his forehead.</p>
<p>“Huh? But- I thought- you looked like you were enjoying yourself-” Galo paused, a determined look in his eyes. He looked down at Lio’s dick, now soft, “What’d I do wrong? Tell me, let me try again, I can do better-”</p>
<p>Lio felt himself blush, “Galo, that’s not what I’m talking about! You did fine, it’s just-” Lio ran his hand through his hair, frustrated, “Fuck, why can’t you show this kind of enthusiasm for your calculus homework?”</p>
<p>“Calculus isn’t fun,” Galo countered, and admittedly there wasn’t much to argue with there. Lio shook his head.</p>
<p>“That’s not my point. My point, Galo, is that this was- this <i>has</i> to be a one-time thing, okay?” Lio insisted, finally sitting up and fixing his pants, grimacing at the streaks of stray cum stark against the matte black leather. Great. They really needed to clean up before anyone saw them like this. The walls were thin, and it wasn’t like Galo’s room was locked. </p>
<p>“Why?” Galo asked, his voice always betraying his honesty. He was a horrible liar, so Lio knew he was being sincere. </p>
<p>“Why!?” Lio sputtered in disbelief, “Because I could go to jail if anyone ever found out about this. You-” Lio paused, abruptly, his heart sinking into his stomach. “You understand that, right, Galo?” It was suddenly incredibly important that he make sure Galo understood this.</p>
<p>Galo frowned at him, the same kind of frown he reserved for particularly difficult homework problems. Oh. Oh no.</p>
<p>“Galo, listen to me-” Lio said, sitting up and grabbing Galo’s face between his hands, “You can’t tell anyone about this, okay? There are laws, just...just trust me that you need to keep your mouth shut. Promise?”</p>
<p>Galo smiled, the result looking a bit funny between his squished cheeks, “Oh, like a forbidden romance? Star-crossed lovers? That’s so cute.”</p>
<p>Lio didn’t have the heart to tell him it could end up a bit more serious than that, but he supposed the Romeo and Juliet reference was partly apt, given the stakes at hand. Lio wasn’t very confident Galo understood his own reference, but he nodded, “Y-yeah, just like that, Galo. Now, you wouldn’t happen to have any tissues, would you?”</p>
<p>Galo maneuvered so he was hanging off his bed, reaching under and producing a box of tissues so the two of them could clean up a little bit while the movie rolled on. </p>
<p>Lio spent the rest of the night feeling like he was fending Galo off- he had to stop him from climbing back into his lap or hold his hand tightly to make sure it didn’t creep up his thigh too far. He was exhausted by the time the movie ended and he excused himself from Galo’s room. He took some of the snacks back down to the pantry while Galo got ready for bed (it was a school night, after all, Lio thought with some disgust). He went as quietly as possible, not trying to draw any attention to himself. It didn’t seem like Galo’s parents were still out in the living room, but he tiptoed anyways.</p>
<p>He was arranging the bag of gummy candies on the shelf when he heard the backdoor open. Galo’s dad emerged from outside, bringing with him the smell of cigar smoke, “Oh, Lio!”</p>
<p>Lio froze, trying his best to act natural despite what had just happened with this man’s son. He pushed the bag further back on the shelf and turned around to say hello. Mr. Thymos was already rifling through his wallet.</p>
<p>“Glad I could catch you before you left, kiddo. We didn’t give you the money for today, did we?”</p>
<p>Lio blinked at him, relieved that this conversation hadn’t taken any kind of nosedive yet. After a moment he shook his head, “Uh, no, don’t...don’t worry about tonight. Dinner was more than enough, truly. I don’t mind coming over at all.”</p>
<p>“Oh, don’t be silly,” Mr. Thymos insisted, folding a twenty between his fingers and holding it out to Lio.</p>
<p>Lio all but pushed the money away, the sight of it making his stomach turn. If he’d felt bad about getting paid for tutoring Galo before, he sure as hell wasn’t going to stomach any payments <i>now</i>. “No thank you! I really mean it! I, uh, should get going! Thank you again for dinner. Please let Mrs. thymos know the roast was really good. I’ll see you later this week.” </p>
<p>Lio bowed his head and ducked out of the kitchen before Galo’s dad could insist any further. He slipped his shoes on as quickly as possible and practically sprinted back to his house, forgetting to go back up and say goodnight to Galo in his rush.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Galo spent the next 72 hours thinking nonstop about the night he’d spent with Lio- he couldn’t get the thought of how his body felt under his out of his mind. He dreamt about the way he’d arched his back and those soft whines and moans were playing on loop in his head. It was getting to a point that he was having even more trouble than usual focusing in class because all he could think about were how cute Lio’s lips looked, pink and swollen from their kiss.</p>
<p>There was no way he was gonna let this be a one-time thing, and if Lio wouldn’t change his mind, well...Galo was just going to have to <i>find</i> a way to change his mind. Failure wasn’t an option- not after he’d had just a taste of what he’d been missing out on all this time.</p>
<p>He’d never kissed anyone before. Not like that, at least- he’d kissed some girl in kindergarten once while playing house, but he didn’t really count that considering it’d been a peck on the cheek and she’d stuck her tongue out at him afterwards. </p>
<p>It wasn’t like he hadn’t had the <i>chance</i> to kiss anyone before- he’d been to plenty of house parties with games like spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven, but he always managed to get away in time to miss out on the fun. Ever since he’d known what a kiss was, he’d wanted to save his first for someone special. </p>
<p>He still remembered the night he’d told that to Lio, who was babysitting and listening to him rant about his pre-teen drama. He’d laughed that charming laugh and ruffled Galo’s hair fondly. At the time, Lio had told him it wasn’t really such a big deal, but that he should just make sure it was someone he really felt like kissing. </p>
<p>Lio was the only one he’d ever felt like kissing.</p>
<p>So, yeah, he wasn’t gonna let Lio slip away from him that easily now that he had him so close. After all, it was clear he’d enjoyed himself too, so what was the harm in them having a little fun really? Lio was so worked up over this and Galo didn’t really understand why- five years wasn’t that much. His parents were 8 years apart- and they were <i>married</i>!</p>
<p>Galo tapped his foot against the carpet in his room, staring at the open book in front of him but not taking in any of the words on the page. It was hard to focus when he knew Lio was going to be over soon and he still didn’t have a solid plan for how to make sure he’d be coming back for more.</p>
<p>Sincerity and forwardness had seemed to pay off in dividends the first time around, hadn’t it? Maybe more of that would help. He was mulling it over when there was a light knock on his door. He sat up straighter in his chair, watching Lio enter the room with a tray of snacks and two cans of soda. </p>
<p>“Hey!” Galo exclaimed, noting that Lio barely looked up to meet his eye as he put the tray down and set himself up in the folding chair next to the desk. His gaze went straight to the history book spread out in front of him.</p>
<p>Lio’s voice was curt when he spoke, “What do you need to do today?”</p>
<p>Galo wanted to pout, but decided it would be best to play along with Lio for now- he didn’t want to spook him if he was in a sour mood, anyways. He tapped the title of the chapter, “I need to review for my world history exam. We’re talking about Russian Tsars or something, I think,” Galo frowned at the page.</p>
<p>“The revolution? That’s a lot of territory, but it’s manageable,” Lio visibly relaxed when he’d noticed Galo was focused on his work for now, so Galo was proud of himself for making the right choice. He could ease into this, even if it meant suffering through a rehashing of some historical events. Besides, he way preferred to hear Lio’s soft voice going over this stuff rather than his teacher’s. Galo zoned out fairly often as Lio started reading, staring at the way Lio’s lips moved around the words no matter what he was saying.</p>
<p>It was almost always about a half hour into the lessons that Galo started to get antsy and unfocused. How could he help it, with the way Lio licked his finger whenever he turned a page? Or the way his shorts rode up his thigh just slightly when he crossed one leg over another? </p>
<p>“Galo, I’m going to quiz you on some of this information now. Do you think you’re ready?”</p>
<p>He tore his eyes up from Lio’s legs, blinking at the older man across from him. He was definitely not ready. But he did have a new plan formulating in his mind.</p>
<p>“Can you go over the info one more time before you quiz me?” he asked, since he hadn’t been paying attention at all to the second half of the chapter. He’d need to actually focus if he wanted this to work.</p>
<p>Lio sighed, but he was nothing if not patient, “Of course.” He flipped several pages back to the beginning of the chapter.</p>
<p>“One other thing.”</p>
<p>“Hm?” Lio asked, running his thumb over the edge of the pages. He glanced up at Galo, their eyes meeting a bit unexpectedly.</p>
<p>“If I get all the answers right, you let me give you a blowjob.”</p>
<p>Lio visibly flinched at the unexpected request, his hand slipping so that he gave himself a papercut. He cursed under his breath and brought his thumb to his mouth, wincing at the stinging pain, “Galo, you cannot be serious,” Lio said, voice a little muffled as he spoke with the digit in his mouth. </p>
<p>“Come on! You don’t have anything to lose! If I get an A, <i>you</i> get rewarded! It’s a win-win situation.” </p>
<p>Lio narrowed his eyes as he stared at Galo, as though he were weighing his options. Clearly, part of him wanted to outright say no. Another part of him knew Galo wasn’t going to pay attention any other way. Yet another part of him probably thought there was no way in hell Galo was going to get all of the answers right anyways, so what did it really matter?</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Lio, the fact that they’d grown up with each other worked both ways. Sure, Lio knew a lot about him, but Galo knew all sorts of things about Lio too that you’d never guess at first glance.</p>
<p>For instance, Lio had this thing where he absolutely hated to back down from a challenge no matter how absurd.</p>
<p>“What? You’re really afraid I might win?” Galo asked, casually, resting his elbow on his desk and sending the blonde an incredulous look. </p>
<p>“I’m not afraid you might win,” Lio spat, falling for the ploy hook line and sinker, “Have you ever gotten an A in your entire life, Galo? I don’t suspect that would start now.”</p>
<p>“I usually get As in PE class and my extracurriculars,” Galo mused, honestly. It was the only thing keeping his average above a straight 2.0. “If you’re not afraid, then are you in?”</p>
<p>Lio wrinkled his nose, obviously aware of what Galo was up to at this point, but it didn’t make it any easier. “Alright, fine. You get one chance, got it? I’ll ask ten questions-”</p>
<p>“Ten!?” Galo sputtered, suddenly rethinking his approach, “hold on, that’s-”</p>
<p>Lio held up his hand to quiet him, “I’ll ask you ten questions. If you answer every single one correctly, without using the textbook, then you can…” Lio trailed off. </p>
<p>“Suck you off?” Galo happily finished the thought for him, enjoying the way the flush rose high on Lio’s cheeks. He was so pale, it was easy to see whenever he was embarrassed or worked up. </p>
<p>“Yes. That. But only if you meet all of the conditions.”</p>
<p>“Fine. Challenge accepted. Start from the top.” Galo felt more focused than he ever had in his entire life, listening intently to Lio’s review of the timeline of events, from the insurrection to the establishment of the Soviet Union at the end. </p>
<p>He stored all of the important dates and places and people that he could possibly pick up on. He made Lio review everything one final time before he started the quiz. The first few questions Lio asked were easy and he blurted out the correct answers immediately. They shifted after that, getting more specific and complicated the more Lio started to get worried he might lose. Galo would have stopped to accuse him of cheating if he wasn’t terrified of all of the information he’d learned in the past hour instantly escaping his head.</p>
<p>“Alright, question ten,” Lio said, his voice clearly on edge as he glanced over the textbook to try and find something that would absolutely stump Galo. It shouldn’t have been this hard, but he was sweating bullets at this point, “Name one of the earliest squares where protests took place, Specifically, in 1917, 50 people were killed-”</p>
<p>“Znamenskaya Square!” Galo shouted, practically falling forward in his chair in his excitement.</p>
<p>“Spell it,” Lio countered, glaring at Galo.</p>
<p>“That’s not fair!” he replied. He had no idea how to spell it, but he’d heard Lio pronounce it three times now.</p>
<p>“I-if you can’t spell it on your exam tomorrow, you can’t get full credit.”</p>
<p>“It’s multiple choice, Lio. It’s history, not spelling class!”</p>
<p>“I don’t care if it’s multiple choice. It’s <i>my</i> exam you’re taking, and if you can’t spell it then you don't get credit for all of the answers-ah!” Lio was cut off when Galo launched himself off of his chair straight to Lio, toppling both of them along with the chair. They both landed on the ground with a thud, Lio letting out a shriek as Galo landed on top of him. </p>
<p>“You’re a cheater!” Galo accused, briefly wrestling with Lio before he easily pinned his wrists to the floor next to his head.</p>
<p>“You oaf! Get off of me!” Lio kicked his legs, but Galo was so hefty that he barely budged.</p>
<p>From downstairs, Lio heard Galo’s mom call up, “Boys? You two alright up there?”</p>
<p>They both froze before Galo called back, “Yeah! We’re fine! I just tripped on something! All good!”</p>
<p>“Alright, let me know if you need anything!” She said, her voice sing-song now that it wasn’t clouded with concern. </p>
<p>Galo looked down at Lio again, grinning. Lio scowled, hissing quietly, “Get off of me.”</p>
<p>“Nah,” Galo teased, though he did let go of Lio’s wrists. He was still sitting on his chest, so it wasn’t like he could really go anywhere. He grabbed the textbook that had fallen to the ground and flipped through it until he found the page he needed. Following his finger, he spelled out the word “Znamenskaya” letter by letter. He snapped the book shut, satisfied with himself.</p>
<p>“That doesn’t count,” Lio practically wheezed, the weight of Galo on his chest catching up with him, “I said you couldn’t use the book.”</p>
<p>“You cheated first,” The boy stuck his tongue out at Lio before he rolled off of him so he would be able to breathe again. Lio took the chance to sit up, supporting himself by leaning back on his hands. Galo reached over to put his book away in his backpack, but Lio couldn’t help but eye him suspiciously.</p>
<p>When Galo turned around and noticed Lio was staring, he cocked his head, “What?”</p>
<p>“...You’re not going to do anything?”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>Suddenly, Lio’s face was glowing like a fire again, and Galo understood what he’d been implying. He scoffed, “Jeeze, Lio, I’m not a <i>monster</i>. If you wanna back out on your word, then fine. I’m not gonna <i>force</i> you into something if you really don’t want to do it.”</p>
<p>“I’m not backing out on my word!” Lio said, indignant at the suggestion, “You only get partial credit for the last question.”</p>
<p>“Uh-huh,” Galo said, watching Lio flounder. This was kind of fun in its own right, he figured.</p>
<p>“You did well, though. I was actually really surprised by the fact that you did…<i>technically</i> answer them all correctly. I’m impressed by the level of focus you had.”</p>
<p>“Uh-huh.”</p>
<p>“I do think you should get some kind of reward, since you did so well. I just don’t know if, um, giving me head is going to be the kind of reward you think it is,” He laughed, mostly out of nervousness.</p>
<p>“What makes you say that?” Galo asked, his curiosity piqued again, “It looks kinda fun. Plus, I really wanna make you feel good. You looked so pretty the other night when you were-”</p>
<p>“Have you ever done it before?” Lio asked, raising his voice just slightly so it was loud enough to cut Galo off.</p>
<p>“Huh? No. I haven’t ever been with anyone but you. Never wanted to.” Galo said, as though he was stating the most obvious thing in the world.</p>
<p>Lio looked to the side, getting that pensive look on his face like he did when he was reading or thinking about something real hard. When he spoke again, his words were stilted as though he was picking them with the utmost care, “You’re a pretty visual learner, wouldn’t you say?”</p>
<p>“I love picture books,” Galo confirmed.</p>
<p>Lio grimaced, “That’s, uh, great. Not what I meant, though. I was thinking more that I could show you firsthand. You know, as your reward.”</p>
<p>“Show me what?”</p>
<p>The blonde let out a frustrated noise, “Christ, you really want me to spell it out? I’m offering to give <i>you</i> a blowjob, Galo. No offense, but I don’t think whatever porno you watched to learn about blowjobs is gonna cut it, exactly. It helps to know what feels good. That would be your reward.”</p>
<p>Galo felt his jaw drop, eyes wide. Wait, what? How had they gone from Lio adamantly refusing to give in to his game to this? Even more, why the fuck was Galo even questioning it? He nodded fervently and scrambled to his feet, practically tripping over himself so he could sit in his desk chair again. He hadn’t even considered asking Lio for this kind of thing, certain that he’d be more open to receiving than giving at this point. </p>
<p>Lio shifted till he was on his knees- he closed the short distance between the two of them, placing his hands on Galo’s knees before gently pushing them apart so there was room to slot himself between them. Galo let Lio lead the way, his nerves practically on fire as he watched with curious fascination. Lio’s movements were deft and confident, making quick work of the button and fly on his jeans. His fingers were long and elegant, blunt nails manicured. He was wearing a couple of rings on several of his fingers, billowy sleeves of his white shirt brushing against his delicate wrists. Galo felt like he needed to soak in every single piece of this scene or he might forget it. It was so easy to replace all of that history he’d just crammed in there.</p>
<p>Lio rubbed Galo’s dick through his underwear first, pressing the palm of his hand gently to work him up. He’d been half hard ever since his brain had caught on to what Lio had been suggesting, but even the feather-light touch made him swell. He let out an encouraging groan when Lio pulled his underwear down, letting his dick spring up from the confines.</p>
<p>“Remember to keep your volume in check. Bite down on your hand if you really need to,” Lio hummed, running his hands over Galo’s thighs now. Even just the sight of Lio looking up at him from the floor, nestled between his legs, was enough to make him fully hard. When Galo mindlessly nodded in confirmation, Lio set his sights back on Galo’s cock.</p>
<p>Lio’s eyes went half-lidded, pupils dilating slightly as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to the head before he trailed kisses down the underside of his cock, along the vein till he made it to the base. He pressed his tongue flat and ran it back up to the head, and Galo could’ve lost it right there. </p>
<p>“You’re big,” Lio muttered, his voice a little spacey. Galo immediately let the comment go to his ego, dick twitching at the praise from Lio. The blonde smiled and finally took the tip into his mouth, quick to bob his head and take more of Galo in until he couldn’t any more- just a bit over halfway. Galo gripped the armrests on his chair, unsure of where else to put his hands while Lio worked. He was amazing at this. Sure, Galo didn’t have anything to compare it to, but he felt certain he’d never felt anything so good in his entire life. Lio’s mouth was so soft and warm and he glided over his dick so effortlessly- and when the head of his cock hit the back of Lio’s throat, it spasmed just a bit, tightening around him in a way that threatened to make him cum every single time.</p>
<p>He was trying his best to concentrate on not cumming in thirty seconds- he wanted to so badly, but god if he didn’t want to make this last forever, too. He did eventually have to throw his head back and bite down on his knuckles, a low groan escaping his throat when Lio brought his hands up to wrap around the base of his cock and pumped his hands in tandem with the movements of his head.</p>
<p>After a few minutes of this, when Galo was certain he was about to lose it any moment, Lio stopped midway through bobbing his head, with the tip of Galo’s cock pressed against the tightest part of his throat. Lio moved his hands out of the way and took a breath in from his nostrils before relaxing his throat and pressing forward, attempting to take Galo in deeper. He gagged around him, the vibrations undoing Galo entirely.</p>
<p>“Fuck! Lio, stop, I’m-” Galo tried to give some kind of indication in time, but it wasn’t enough. It didn’t help that he grabbed the back of Lio’s head and held him in place, cumming deep down his throat as he tried to pull up to breathe. After a couple of spasms, Galo’s grip finally weakened and Lio pulled back violently, coughing and sputtering on saliva and cum. Galo wanted to apologize, but he was still riding out his orgasm, another spurt of come splattering across Lio’s cheeks, dribbling down his chin and onto his shirt.</p>
<p>“S-sorry,” Galo said, his apology sincere but weak. He could already feel the blood rushing to his dick again at the sight of Lio- he looked so messy, his pretty face covered in strings of his cum while he was splayed out on his knees on the floor.</p>
<p>“Shit, Galo,” Lio coughed again, his voice a little hoarse, “Be a little more aware of your own strength, won’t you?”</p>
<p>“I know, I’m sorry, I just-” Galo grabbed his dick and pumped it a few more times, coaxing out another wave of his orgasm and another string of cum on Lio’s face, “You just felt so good, holy shit. Were you trying to get my whole dick in your mouth?”</p>
<p>Lio started wiping the cum from his cheeks with the pad of his thumb, “Have you ever heard of the word tact before?” He asked, in lieu of answering the question.</p>
<p>Galo laughed, “Nah, but I do know what the word reciprocity means,” He beamed. Lio blinked up at him, expression incredulous. Galo grinned down at him, moving his foot so that it was between Lio’s legs, pressing down on the bulge in his pants. His shorts didn’t exactly hide anything. Lio made a strangled noise, clearly embarrassed, but Galo couldn’t help but think it was cute. He’d gotten hard just from sucking him off.</p>
<p>Experimentally, he rubbed his foot along the length of Lio’s clothed erection, watching the blush creep down Lio’s pale chest, “Can I try now? You’re hard.”</p>
<p>Lio swallowed thickly, and glanced down at Galo’s lap, noting that his cock had also sprung back to life despite how he’d just cum, “You are too,” he noted, somewhat in disbelief, “Hold on. I have a better idea,” Lio stood up and dropped his shorts and underwear to the floor of Galo’s bedroom in one swift motion.</p>
<p>Galo had definitely seen this in a dream at some point, mouth going dry as Lio climbed into his lap. It was crowded and not exactly the most comfortable to balance Lio in his lap on his desk chair, but he was thin enough to thread his legs under the arms of the chair so he sat facing Galo. Lio situated himself so that he was close enough to take both of their dicks in one hand.</p>
<p>He shuddered when Lio dragged his hand upwards, jerking them off in tandem. The way Lio’s dick slid against his, smearing a streak of precum along the underside of his cock made Galo jerk his hips upwards involuntarily, nearly causing Lio to topple backwards. Galo grabbed his waist with one hand and held him in place, his other hand joining Lio’s between their bodies.</p>
<p>While Lio couldn’t close his fingers around both of them at once, Galo was able to with ease, enthusiastically taking over for Lio once the other relented that it felt a lot better like this. He focused on holding on to Galo’s shoulders to keep himself steady, rocking his hips gently. Galo stopped stroking, instead letting Lio fuck into his fist, his smaller cock dragging along Galo’s. </p>
<p>Lio wrapped his arms around Galo’s neck and pressed his chest flush against Galo’s, crashing their lips together unceremoniously. The kiss nearly took Galo’s breath away, deep and heady. Lio was quick to shove his tongue into his mouth, clearly using it as a way to quiet his own moans, but Galo wasn’t going to complain. He moved his hand from Lio’s waist to the small of his back, roaming south until he cupped Lio’s ass. There wasn’t much to grab, but it made Lio gasp and break apart from the kiss briefly. </p>
<p>“Mm, you like that?” Galo asked in a hushed tone, voice low and gravely as he caressed his hand over Lio’s ass and down to his shaky thighs, amazed by how much fit in his hand. He knew Lio was tiny, but it was different to actually feel how much smaller he was. He vaguely wondered how tight Lio would feel around him. Would he even be able to take all of him in, like he’d tried to do with his mouth earlier? The mental image of Lio under him, holding his thighs apart and letting Galo thrust inside him was-</p>
<p>It was too much. Galo came first again, spurting into his fist and on to their chests. Lio didn’t seem to have the capacity to care, chasing his own orgasm. Galo moved his hand now, his cum acting like lube as Lio whined, hips moving faster. He came moments later, too, thrusts getting more shallow as he added to the mess between them.</p>
<p>The two of them sat there for a few moments, the sudden silence of the room settling in between their labored breathing and the distant sound of birds chirping. Lio was shaking, collapsed against Galo’s chest in the aftermath. He let out a frustrated groan, “I...can’t believe you talked me into this. Again.”</p>
<p>Galo laughed, removing his sticky hand from between them so he could wrap his arms around Lio and hold him, “Hey, it was half your idea. Besides, I feel like I’m learning a lot from these sessions.”</p>
<p>“Shut up.”</p>
<p>“Make me,” Galo chirped, nudging Lio’s cheek with his nose. When Lio looked up at him, he pressed his lips against his, gentle and sweet. Lio melted into the kiss without any fuss, managing a small smile when they pulled apart to look into each other’s eyes.</p>
<p>Galo wanted so badly to tell Lio he loved him, but for once his nerves stopped him. He already knew Lio would just dismiss it as another childish thought, so he figured it could wait. Instead, he pressed his nose to Lio’s, “I wanna take you out on a date.”</p>
<p>Lio laughed, reaching up to brush away the hair plastered to Galo’s forehead with sweat, “Oh? And where do you want to go?”</p>
<p>“I dunno. Anywhere as long as we can hang out. We already did a movie night…”</p>
<p>“We could go get dinner somewhere,” Lio suggested, even if it sounded a little cliche. It was classic for a reason.</p>
<p>Galo frowned, “That’s boring! I wanna spend a whole day with you. Let’s do something this weekend. Somewhere with lots of things to do! We could go to the zoo, or maybe the lake or- oh! Oh!” Galo exclaimed, suddenly having an idea, “The amusement park! Let’s go on all sorta of fun rides and do stupid photobooths and eat junk food!”</p>
<p>Lio’s face looked mildly pained at the suggestion, but he gave Galo a weak smile, “Ah, alright. I don’t see the harm in it, I guess.”</p>
<p>“It’ll be fun! I promise! I’ll even pay for our tickets,” Galo said, sensing that maybe amusement parks weren’t Lio’s scene, per se. But they were fun! He was sure once he managed to drag Lio out there, he’d have a good time. </p>
<p>“You don’t have to do that, Galo. I have a job, I can buy both of our-”</p>
<p>“Nu-uh! I asked you out, so I get to pay. I’ll let you buy me a cotton candy and a corn dog, though,” He added, already hopping to the subject of food. He kissed Lio again, unable to help himself when he was so close. When he stood up, he took Lio with him and plopped both of them down on the bed together.</p>
<p>Lio managed to squirm out of Galo’s grip, “No! No, no, no. No cuddling until we get cleaned up. Look at you, you’re a mess. If anyone saw us…”</p>
<p>“Relax, no one’s gonna see us,” Galo laughed, ‘Besides, you look more of a mess than I do, I bet.” Galo noted the dried cum on his face and in his hair. Okay, yeah, maybe they ought to clean up a little bit.</p>
<p>“Let me change my shirt and I’ll go get a washcloth.” Galo pressed a kiss to Lio’s forehead, bouncing off the bed and fixing himself up so he looked more presentable. He winked at the little blond in his bed, “We can talk about our date more, too.”</p>
<p>Galo left the room and padded his way to their upstairs bathroom. The moment he closed the door, he leaned back against it and started fist-pumping into the air. He hopped around the bathroom as quietly as possible, letting out all of his excited energy. His heart had been racing since Lio had agreed to go on the date with him. He felt like he’d been waiting for this moment his entire life! So much had happened over just the past three weeks, and now he had the opportunity of a lifetime to make sure Lio fell for him, too.</p>
<p>Galo put his palms down on the counter and stared into the mirror at himself. He knew Lio had a lot of apprehension about this, so Galo had to take this chance and prove he was mature enough and absolutely worthy of being Lio’s boyfriend. He was going to show Lio age was just a number. </p>
<p>After his little emotional pep talk to himself, he finally grabbed a washcloth and turned the water on, newfound determination for Operation Make Lio Fall Head Over Heels.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>As always thank u to those who reviewed &amp; left kudos &lt;3 i appreciate it greatly!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! I'm overjoyed by any attention this fic is getting...I'm glad y'all are as down for age gap and bad choices as I am &lt;3 Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lio couldn’t believe he’d let Galo talk him into another asinine plan of his. He slammed the door behind him as he climbed out of Galo’s pickup truck- the younger boy had insisted on driving them. He’d said something about wanting the practice, which wasn’t the most comforting sentiment to think about while you were going 75 down the freeway. </p>
<p>He wasn’t a bad driver, he just had a habit of going a little too fast and getting distracted by the scenery around him. Lio had chided Galo at least ten times through the entire 45 minute long drive down to the nearest amusement park. He’d nearly careened out of their lane when he’d seen the tallest roller coaster rising over the horizon in the distance and started to point excitedly at it.</p>
<p>Lio feared that this probably wasn’t even going to be the most anxiety-inducing part of his day, either. They may have been almost an hour away from their little hometown, but there was still a possibility they might run into someone who recognized them. Slim as the chances were, it worried him that Galo didn’t seem to have a concept of personal space or secrecy.</p>
<p>The other thing that worried him only fully registered when they had finished getting their wrist-bands at the park entrance and approached the first roller-coaster they could find. It wasn’t even the tallest one here, but it had a multitude of loops and corkscrews. It came back to Lio in the flash of a memory- he was little, on a middle-school field trip. They’d taken an overnight trip to a waterpark, and Lio had unceremoniously discovered his fear of heights when he’d finished climbing the stairs to the top of the biggest waterslide. A couple of staff from the park had needed to climb up and walk him down the stairs again in what was probably the most embarrassing moment of his life.</p>
<p>But he’d been, what, twelve or thirteen at the time? He was twenty-one now, and there was no way he still harbored such an irrational fear. He’d never dared to test it again after that miserable moment, but he told himself that must be the case. He’d just been a stupid kid back then, after all.</p>
<p>“Can we ride that one!?” Galo asked, pointing at the roller coaster Lio had been staring at while having that shameful, brief flashback. He glanced around to see what else was around them, his eyes landing on a colorful ride.</p>
<p>He grabbed the sleeve of Galo’s shirt, “Wait, um, let’s ride the carousel first!” He insisted, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt. He did not want to ride the carousel, but if it meant avoiding the roller coasters just a little longer, he’d lie through his teeth.</p>
<p>“Huh? But that’s kinda boring-” Galo paused, seeming to catch himself. Instead of continuing to whine, he grinned and nodded, grabbing Lio’s hand, “Okay, sure! I’m totally into making compromises and not being selfish! Besides, we can probably take some cute pictures, right!?” </p>
<p>Lio blinked at him, uncertain what that first part had been about, but he was too relieved to care. He let Galo lead the way, their hands clasped together as they switched directions and walked towards the short line outside the ride. </p>
<p>They were dreadfully out of place among the young adult couples with their babies and the toddlers who barely went up to their knees as they jumped around impatiently. Galo didn’t seem to notice or mind, but Lio suddenly felt a bit idiotic for suggesting this.</p>
<p>“Um, we don’t have to wait, actually. I didn’t think there’d be a line, so-” </p>
<p>“It’s fine!” Galo piped up, swinging their hands, “You wanna ride it, right? I don’t mind waiting.”</p>
<p>“You? Since when do <i>you</i> not mind waiting for something?” Lio asked, giving a short laugh, “You used to lay down on the couch and throw a fit when I told you that we had to wait for the delivery person when we got takeout.”</p>
<p>“Maybe when I was little!” Galo huffed, “I told you I’m not a kid anymore though. I’m <i>plenty</i> patient nowadays!” </p>
<p>“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Lio said, stepping forward as the last group of passengers filed off the ride and they stepped up to take their turn on the merry-go-round. He still felt out of place even as Galo excitedly found a two-person seat for them to take. Galo spent 90 percent of the ride with his phone out, trying to pick a cute filter for them to take selfies with, and the other 10 percent trying to get Lio to look at the camera and smile. </p>
<p>Lio was more willing to brave the roller coaster after that. </p>
<p>The wait in the line was longer than the one for the carousel, but Lio was grateful for the chance to steel his nerves. Galo, luckily, seemed happy to babble on about some of his friends from school while Lio stared intensely at the crossbars going high into the sky. He could hear the faint sound of people screaming every time they took a dip or went through a loop. </p>
<p>He tried to listen to what Galo was saying, nodding his head and making small hums of agreement when it seemed appropriate while he really focused on controlling his breathing and convincing himself this was a stupid fear. It helped a little when Galo looped their arms together, pulling him a bit closer.</p>
<p>He was fine when they reached the front of the line. He was even fine when Galo insisted they try to get seats at the front and even when the young girl came by with a bored expression and made sure all the safety equipment was secure. He was gripping the little handlebars so hard his hands hurt, but he was fine.</p>
<p>He was not fine when the rollercoaster started moving and his feet were suddenly dangling a good 30 feet above the ground. His stomach turned as he couldn’t help but look down, his heart rate spiking immediately. He felt so, so dizzy. And then they lurched forward and began a slow ascent further upwards. Lio looked over at Galo only to find him beaming with excitement as he looked around at everything. He would’ve thought it was cute if he wasn’t feeling so nauseous. </p>
<p>The car slowed when it came to the first peak and then the next few moments were a quick blur before Lio saw the first loop coming up.</p>
<p>The next thing he knew, he was blinking his eyes open, groaning. Galo and a stranger were hovering over him. God, his body felt sore. What was going on?</p>
<p>“...what happened to the ride?”</p>
<p>“Dude, you passed out.”</p>
<p>“I what?” Lio asked, sitting up to attempt to get his bearings. He was sitting on a park bench. The other person with them looked like some kind of low-level park attendant, their face only mildly relieved Lio had gotten up. They’d probably seen this kind of thing a few times before, Lio guessed. At least he hadn’t vomited all over them, he figured. Can’t get motion sickness if you pass out first, right?</p>
<p>“Yeah, you were fine! And then I looked over and you  were suddenly all limp and I got really worried but it’s not like I could tell anyone to stop the ride! So I had to get someone to help me get you off the ride and I think someone might be calling the first-aid tent right now?” Galo said, spitting out information at lightning speed that was hard to process. Lio grabbed the side of his head, grunting in agreement. There was a pause before Galo kneeled in front of him, looking up at him with worry in his bright blue eyes, “Are you feeling okay?”</p>
<p>“I’d like to be swallowed up by the Earth, actually,” Lio quipped, still having the sense to feel rightfully embarrassed of himself, “I feel like I might’ve gotten a few bruises. Neck hurts a little. I’m okay though, I’ve been through worse.”</p>
<p>“Why didn’t you tell me you don’t like roller coasters!?” Galo asked, grabbing Lio’s hand between both of his. His skin was a bit pale and clammy, his hand easily swallowed by Galo’s bigger palms. There was a warmth radiating from him.</p>
<p>“I, uh…” Lio paused, not wanting to admit that he’d just been too stubborn to say anything, “It’s been a while since I’ve been to an amusement park. I thought I’d be fine.”</p>
<p>“This has happened before?”</p>
<p>Lio felt his cheeks burn, recalling his miserable field trip once again, “No. I mean, not exactly. I used to chicken out at the boarding stage.”</p>
<p>Galo laughed at that, a happy sound bubbling up before he repressed it since he clearly didn’t think it was an appropriate reaction. “Well, I’m flattered you tried to be brave for me. Maybe warn a guy next time, though?” </p>
<p>Lio looked down at him, feeling a warmth blossoming in his chest at the way Galo smiled at him. He looked genuinely relieved, if the way he was holding tightly to Lio’s hand told him nothing else, “I’m fine, really. Thank you for being so worried. Sorry for <i>making</i> you so worried.”</p>
<p>A loud clatter and a shout brought them both back to the present- it seemed the medical staff had arrived on a golf cart, carrying a plethora of supplies with them as they hopped out. Lio grimaced, aware that this might be a bit of a long and unpleasant detour on their date.</p>

<p>Galo scooped another large spoonful from the bowl of shaved ice and syrup on the table in front of them. Lio chewed on the plastic of his spoon, his eyes flickering to a group of teenagers a few tables down. He kept catching their eyes across the small outdoor cafeteria area. Galo had been far too distracted by the two hotdogs, tray of chicken fingers and the plate of cheese fries earlier and now the extra-large snowcone to have noticed. </p>
<p>“You still feeling bad? You’ve barely eaten anything,” Galo noted, swallowing down a mouthful of ice and sugar before he pointed his spoon at him. “The paramedic dude said you gotta go see a doctor if you’re acting strange or have blurry vision or like can’t concentrate. I had a concussion a couple times so I know they’re-”</p>
<p>“No, no. It’s not that.” Lio cut Galo off, resting his head on his hand, “Don’t look right now, but those people over there. They keep looking at us, at you. Do you know them?”</p>
<p>“Huh?” Galo whipped around in his seat immediately, twisting so he could look over his shoulder at the group of kids. Lio groaned and covered his face with his hand. </p>
<p>“Oh, hey! It’s some of the guys from the football team!” Galo piped up, excited as he waved at them. Lio’s eyes went wide and he hunched lower, trying to hide himself either under the table or behind Galo as much as possible, “I should go say hi! Wanna come?”</p>
<p>“Are you <i>insane</i>, Galo?” Lio hissed, still hiding his face behind his hand, “No I don’t want to go say hi! We shouldn’t be seen together!”</p>
<p>“What, why?” Galo leaned forward over the table, putting his face close to Lio’s. Lio moved his hand to make eye contact with him, staring him down. It took a moment, but Galo seemed to get it, “Oh, come on! They don’t know who you are. They’re in my grade and you graduated three years ago. You’re being kinda paranoid.”</p>
<p>Lio could strangle Galo- it would be so easy to reach across the table and grab that stupid neck of his. He felt certain the lack of oxygen wouldn’t even affect his brain functionality. </p>
<p>He was kidding, of course. Mostly. “Galo, I think I have a right to be paranoid in this case. If you want to go say hi, then I won’t stop you, but don’t say anything about me. Tell them I’m a family friend or something.”</p>
<p>“Won’t it be kind of hard to explain why I was feeding you french fries earlier?”</p>
<p>“We’re just <i>very</i> close friends, okay?” </p>
<p>Galo mulled this over, but seemed to come to the conclusion that no one was likely to buy that. He shrugged and picked up the snow cone, along with their tray of trash, “Whatevs. I’ll see ‘em on Monday! We can talk then. I’d rather spend more time with you, anyways.” Galo said, standing up and making his way to the nearby trash. He dumped the tray in, balancing the snowcone in one hand. Lio hurried up from the table after him, a little surprised at the abrupt exit and the relatively mature way he had handled the situation.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, Galo had been pretty well-behaved all day. After the rollercoaster fiasco, they’d stopped in the arcade area and Galo barely whined whenever he’d lost a game. He’d picked out several prizes and given them all to Lio (admittedly, Lio hadn’t really wanted them, but it was considerate of Galo nonetheless). He’d even refused Lio’s offer to sit and wait for him while he ran around and rode all the tall thriller rides, which Lio <i>knew</i> he wanted to do very badly.</p>
<p>It was past midday already and Galo had been nothing but patient and mature. It wasn’t that Galo wasn’t a kind and thoughtful person normally, but he was <i>not</i> patient and he had all of the maturity of...well, a sixteen-year-old boy.</p>
<p>The pair walked out of the food area, Lio narrowing his eyes at Galo. Lio wanted to test his theory. “Can I have the rest of that?” he asked, pointing at the snowcone in Galo’s hand. Galo turned to him, brows furrowed together.</p>
<p>“What, like, the <i>whole</i> thing?” </p>
<p>Lio nodded.</p>
<p>Galo frowned, thinking over the question hard. He took a deep breath and handed it over without complaint, “Sure, babe, if you want it.”</p>
<p>Lio took the frozen treat, blinking down at it in disbelief. Just like that? It took a lot to separate this boy from his food. Lio knew he had a second stomach for both pizza and all manner of desserts.</p>
<p>Now he <i>knew</i> something was up, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Instead, he took a few bites of the snowcone, made a face at the sweetness and handed it right back to Galo. The other looked more than ecstatic to have his treat back and, while he’d given it away without complaint, he also took it back with enthusiasm.</p>
<p>“Alright, what are you up to?” Lio asked, watching Galo dig into what was left of the snowcone. He looked at him blankly, spoon still in his mouth.</p>
<p>Galo made a small noise of confusion and Lio narrowed his eyes, “You’re being suspiciously considerate today.”</p>
<p>“Wha?” Galo asked, talking with his mouth half-full of ice.</p>
<p>“...Nevermind,” Lio said, disdainfully, as a fleck of spit landed on his cheek. Maybe he was still a little delirious from his run-in with his fear of heights. </p>
<p>Galo shrugged again and shovelled the last of the food into his mouth, drinking down the syrup and coming away with a blue mustache that, astonishingly, matched his hair. Lio was certain he must’ve just been imagining any supposed maturity. He’d definitely knocked his head earlier.</p>
<p>They wandered further through the park, pushing past strollers and families full of screaming toddlers as Lio tried to read the map and see what they could do. They made a plan of attack to try and at least hit all of the rides that Lio was comfortable with- mostly the ones that were grounded or close to it. The teacups, the viking ship, and the tilt-o-whirl were all things they worked their way through.</p>
<p>Galo still seemed a little wary, watching Lio carefully whenever they stepped on a new ride like he wasn’t sure if he was going to need to catch him when he passed out again, despite all of Lio’s reassurances that he’d be fine. It was a little overwhelming, having someone watch him so closely out of concern. Kind of sweet, too.</p>
<p>It made it difficult for Lio to say no when, after finishing all their other rides, Galo pointed to a ride off in the distance and hopped up excitedly, “Oh! Oh! They have a tunnel of love!”</p>
<p>Lio scrunched up his nose at the notion, “I...really can’t think of anything less romantic than riding a creaky old swan boat on a river of over chlorinated, stale water- oof-” Lio nearly fell over as Galo threw his whole weight on him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders.</p>
<p>“Aww, please! Can’t we check it out? Maybe it’s cute!” </p>
<p>Lio rolled his eyes. Completely unrelated to the fact that Galo was pressing his face into his chest thanks to the way he was holding him and their newfound height difference, he acquiesced. It was definitely just because he felt guilty about making Galo give up on a bunch of rides he’d really wanted to go on. </p>
<p>Against all odds, Lio found they had modernized what seemed to have once been an older, outdated ride. The little boats weren’t swans, but just normal-looking paddle boats painted a clean pink with little rose motifs on the side. The entrance was a well-kept, flowering garden with pretty trellises and english ivy that climbed up the sides. </p>
<p>“See? It’s not so bad,” Galo insisted, getting in line behind the few couples ahead of them. </p>
<p>“You don’t know anyone here, do you?” Lio asked, ignoring him and looking over his shoulder.</p>
<p>Galo hummed and stood on his tiptoes, trying to look past the people in front of him to see who was in line, “Well, actually…”</p>
<p>Lio prickled immediately, and Galo let out a laugh. He took Lio’s hand in his and squeezed it, “I’m joking! Relax. We’re pretty far from home, and there’s like a <i>ton</i> of people here. It’ll just be us in a few minutes, anyways.”</p>
<p>“Hilarious,” Lio remarked, despite the fact that he returned Galo’s gesture and curled his fingers around his hand gently. </p>
<p>When it was their turn to board their boat, Galo hopped in first and insisted on taking Lio’s hand to help him in. Lio appreciated it, despite the attendant holding on to the boat to make sure it wouldn’t move too much or tip over. Lio was pretty sure it was tied to a track of some kind, too. They settled into the little two-seater boat, listened to a short script about ride safety and appropriate behavior read by an unenthusiastic college student before the boat started to move. Galo immediately wrapped his arm around Lio’s shoulder the moment the attendants were out of sight. </p>
<p>The tunnel itself was dark, the space mostly used as a way to showcase different lighting effects. Lio liked the first part that was filled with twinkling lights that made it look like a night sky, but it got a bit boring from there. He got the impression this was more of a way to cool down on hot days and to take a break from walking more than it was meant to be a ride. He leaned back against the seat of the boat. He wasn’t going to complain after having spent all day walking, so-</p>
<p>He jumped slightly, his train of thought interrupted by the feeling of something touching his thigh. “Ah! Sorry,” Galo said, his voice low, “I didn’t mean to startle you,”</p>
<p>“I-It’s fine,” Lio glanced down at the warm palm pressed to his thigh, noticing Galo was leaning in close now when he looked back up and their faces were closer. Lio let out a soft laugh, getting what Galo wanted. He layered his hand on top of Galo’s gently, closing the gap between them and pressing their lips together, chaste and short. Galo chased after him when he pulled back, demanding another kiss and then another, until Lio had to physically put a finger to his lips.</p>
<p>“Weren’t you listening earlier? No inappropriate behavior.” Lio chided, smiling as Galo pouted at him.</p>
<p>“I haven’t been able to kiss you all day!” Ah, there was Galo’s childishness finally shining through whatever this maturity act was. Lio brushed his hand through his hair and kissed the side of Galo’s mouth, feeling more relaxed now that it was just the two of them.</p>
<p>“Okay, okay. Just kissing. Only because you asked nicely. And I still feel bad about passing out on you earlier.” </p>
<p>Galo didn’t need any more affirmation before his lips were locked with Lio’s again, his tongue prodding between his teeth, head tilting as he kissed him desperately. It was always amazing to Lio how absolutely greedy Galo was with his kisses- barely leaving room to catch their breaths. He was sure that was why he felt so lightheaded whenever Galo kissed him, needy and messy.</p>
<p>It was never enough. Lio felt Galo’s hand squeeze his thigh, thumb massaging his skin and brushing his hip as he slipped it upwards while he attempted to distract him by peppering kisses on his jawline before nipping at his neck. Lio let out something soft and breathy between a laugh and a gasp, unsure of whether to be amused or annoyed. Galo had always had trouble listening to rules. </p>
<p>“Galo, I said-” Lio started, cut off when Galo’s hand moved to his crotch, palming his cock through his pants, “Oh,” he breathed, warmth spreading through him shamefully quickly. </p>
<p>It didn’t help that Lio had never been very good at enforcing rules, either.</p>
<p>He tilted his head back, exposing more of his neck for Galo to kiss, not minding one bit when he clumsily scraped his teeth against the thin skin or sucked at the crook of his neck. </p>
<p>Amidst the dreamy, colorful bright lights of the tunnel, he languidly let his eyes flutter open, just in time to see the boat passing a slightly out of place sign.</p>
<p>In bold letters, reflecting the light, he managed to read the words “Smile! You’re on camera!”</p>
<p>“Huh?” Lio asked, Galo’s face still busy leaving a hickey on his neck, his hand practically down his pants at this point. A moment later, there was a bright flash that brought Lio back to reality. He grabbed the back of Galo’s head with one hand and the wrist of the hand fondling him with the other.</p>
<p>“Hey, wait, what’s wrong?” Galo asked, obliviously.</p>
<p>Lio thought passing out on a rollercoaster had possibly taken its place as the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he’d been wrong. Certainly, this was it. </p>
<p>“The lovely workers at this establishment just got a wonderful view of you trying to give me another god-damned hand job in this stupid boat, that’s what’s wrong!” Lio hissed, cheeks glowing with a mix of anger and shame, “If we get kicked out after this, I’m absolutely blaming you! I said just kissing!”</p>
<p>“Hey! You were having a good time,” Galo said, his voice way too self-satisfied for their current situation, “Who the hell puts a camera on something called the tunnel of love, anyways? That just seems like a bad idea waiting to happen.”</p>
<p>“That’s besides the point!” Lio insisted, “Just keep it PG for the rest of the ride!”</p>
<p>Galo huffed, frowning, “...Can I still <i>just</i> kiss you?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, <i>can</i> you?” Lio asked, irritated.</p>
<p>“I can!” Galo cupped his face and brought Lio in for a much more gentle kiss, “I’m responsible. I’m not some little kid who can’t listen to rules. Promise.”</p>
<p>He was eager to prove himself, it seemed, because he managed to keep his word for the rest of the ride. His hands wandered a little, but light slaps on the wrists served as gentle enough reminders for him to keep things above the belt. </p>
<p>When they left, Lio was infinitely relieved to see the angle of the camera made their position look questionable at most, but left most of their antics to the imagination. </p>
<p>Galo bought a little magnet with the picture on it while Lio tried to calm himself down from a potential panic attack.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The next chapter will be a lil more spicy, promise!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello again! Quick tw for a thing that im not sure needs it considering all the other problematic stuff happening in this fic, but Lio briefly gets misgendered in this chapter! It's not a huge sticking point but its a thing that's discussed in case that makes anyone uncomfortable?</p>
<p>Anyways- thanks for comments &amp; kudos as always! Y'all r so funny &amp; kind!! brightens my day to read them lol</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So, Galo!” Aina set her tray down on the table across from Galo, her tone of voice more strained than usual, “You want to tell me about this girlfriend you have?”</p>
<p>“What?” Galo asked, holding a slice of cafeteria pizza in his hands. It was bad, but it was pizza, at least. He narrowed his eyes at Aina, “Girlfriend?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, girlfriend.” She repeated, “Or have you not heard everyone and their mom whispering about it in the hallways?” </p>
<p>Galo watched her stab the straw into her juicebox with a little more force than necessary and flinched. He took another thoughtful bite of his pizza to bide some time, trying to remember if he’d heard anyone mentioning this to him today. People usually told him he wasn’t the most observant, so this might’ve been one more thing that just flew over his head. Eventually, he shrugged, “Uh, no. I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”</p>
<p>“Some blonde chick?” Aina asked, leaning forward across the table as if to scrutinize Galo, who could only shrug again, “Skinny? Short? People are saying they saw you on a date with her, and she’s definitely not from this school.”</p>
<p>Galo blinked at her, eyes blank, “If I had a girlfriend, I’d tell you.”</p>
<p>“That’s why I’m angry!” Aina pouted, crossing her arms over her chest, “I’m supposed to be your best friend. I should’ve been the first to find out!”</p>
<p>“I don’t have a girlfriend!” Galo repeated, raising his voice slightly, “I’m not dating some blonde-” </p>
<p>Oh.</p>
<p>The realization hit Galo that maybe, just maybe, they weren’t talking about a girl. He cleared his throat and lowered his voice, “I’m not dating a blonde girl, or anyone, for that matter.”</p>
<p>“Were you at the amusement park this weekend?”</p>
<p>“Uh...Yeah, I was.”</p>
<p>“So who was the blonde girl a bunch of people saw you with?”</p>
<p>“That’s not- uh,” Galo hurriedly shoved another bite of pizza into his mouth, once again biding time to think up a good lie. He failed to do so, “That was a boy. And he was just a family friend.”</p>
<p>Aina looked at him with confusion, “A boy? Weird, everyone’s super certain they saw you with a girl.”</p>
<p>“He’s, uh,” Galo floundered a bit, thinking about Lio. He’d always had a bit of an androgynous charm to him, with his slim waistline and soft blonde hair. It wasn’t like he shied away from clothes that might be considered more feminine, too. Galo hadn’t ever considered it an issue and wasn’t about to start, “He gets that a lot.”</p>
<p>“Hm, alright. As long as you’re not hiding things from me!” Aina huffed, satisfied with Galo’s answers. She finally dug into her own food, making a slight face at the taste of the dry french fries, “You might wanna tell that to the other cheerleaders, though. They’ve been talking up a storm about your date with this mystery person. You know rumors can get out of hand fast if you let ‘em.”</p>
<p>“It wasn’t a date!” Galo said, perhaps a little too quickly. </p>
<p>“Obviously,” Aina agreed, not thinking anything of Galo’s hasty denial. It was rare that Galo had reason to be grateful for heteronormativity, but this was an exception. “I’m just saying, some of the girls are going wild. I feel like one of them might try to kill this dude on sight if they ever met him, boy or not. You know Stephanie’s been trying to get you to agree to a date for the past year.”</p>
<p>“She’s been trying to do what?” Galo asked, genuine confusion coloring his voice.</p>
<p>Aina groaned, “You’re so stupid. She, like, asked you to Homecoming three times.”</p>
<p>“What? When?”</p>
<p>“She left a bunch of notes in your locker?”</p>
<p>“Oh! I forgot my combination. I haven’t opened it since the end of Freshman year.”</p>
<p>“Oh, my god,” Aina sighed, covering her eyes with her hand in disdain.</p>

<p>“You know, Galo, you have your mother worried sick.” </p>
<p>Galo sat up straighter, startled. He turned towards the voice, eyes finding Lio leaned against a nearby street lamp, his arms folded across his chest. Galo huffed and kicked the dirt under his feet, frowning as he used the leverage to push himself on the swing.</p>
<p>“How’d you find me?” he asked, watching the toe of his sneakers move the mulch around.</p>
<p>Lio pushed himself off of the street lamp and walked over to Galo, taking a seat on the other swing next to him, “Would you believe me if I told you I was magic?”</p>
<p>Galo gave a short laugh, “Maybe when I was five.”</p>
<p>“Pity. It was the nicer option than telling you that you’re very predictable. Now, as I was saying, your mom is quite a wreck. You should at least text her back and let her know where you are.”</p>
<p>“This place is always empty for some reason- like no one in the neighborhood knows it’s even here.” Galo remarked, ignoring Lio. He didn’t want to talk to his parents- not yet, anyways. He’d gotten an earful from his dad already and he wasn’t in the mood.</p>
<p>“No, I think it’s just that the nicer park is only ten minutes further in the other direction. People <i>used</i> to come here a lot, until that one was built. Why they thought our little neighborhood needed two playgrounds is beyond me.”</p>
<p>Galo didn’t reply, uncharacteristically quiet for once in his life. It was a warm summer night- the breeze doing little to cool either of them down in the humid air. Sunset had passed a while back, but the fireflies were still swarming around, hovering low to the ground as they seemingly blinked in and out of existence.</p>
<p>“They told me what happened at school. Do you want to talk about it?”</p>
<p>“No,” Galo lied, pouting. A firefly blinked in front of his face and he reached out to catch it, letting the small beetle crawl over his knuckles for a moment before it flew off again.</p>
<p>Lio watched him carefully, eyes widening after a moment, “That’s a nasty black eye.”</p>
<p>“Ha!” Galo laughed humorlessly, “You should see the other guy if you think this is bad.”</p>
<p>“Seriously though, Galo? A fight? That’s not like you at all.”</p>
<p>Galo groaned, his voice annoyed. He stood up from the swingset quickly, the chains rattling loudly, “You don’t think I know that already? Look, I just-” Galo grabbed his head between his hands, rubbing his temples in frustration, “Some assholes at school were talking about you.”</p>
<p>Lio froze, stopping his gentle swinging by digging his feet into the mulch, “What? Me? But- I- I don’t- How does anyone there even <i>know</i> me anymore?”</p>
<p>“They <i>didn’t</i> know it was you, but- ugh!” Galo kicked the ground, sending woodchips flying, “Those guys who saw us together at the amusement park started all these crazy rumors about us! That you were from another highschool and that you were my <i>girlfriend</i>. Of course I told everyone that you aren’t a girl, obviously, and that we’re <i>not</i> dating. I just said we were family friends like you suggested or whatever, and that fucking <i>dickbag</i> called you a-” Galo cut himself off with another kick to the ground, “Whatever. I dunno. I just...saw red and punched him after that.”</p>
<p>“Ah,” Lio clicked his tongue, taking a long pause to soak in all of the information being thrown at him, “I was...afraid something like that might happen when you recognized those kids at the amusement park. I can’t say I expected this kind of outcome, though.”</p>
<p>“Me either,” Galo groaned, “Now I have detention for a week, but Principal Foresight says I’m lucky I’m not being suspended or kicked off the football team for the next season.” Galo plopped himself back down on the swing, holding tight to the chains and swaying, “I guess he’s right. It could’ve been worse.”</p>
<p>Lio made a face at the mention of Foresight’s name, but didn’t press the issue further. It wasn’t the time for personal grudges, anyways. </p>
<p>“I suppose I should apologize for all the trouble I’ve caused you,” Lio said, smiling at Galo and trying to lighten the mood. Galo didn’t seem consoled at all.</p>
<p>“Don’t apologize! It’s not your fault those assholes don’t know how to mind their own business. They shouldn’t have said anything- they don’t even <i>know</i> you!” </p>
<p>“Galo, calm down. It’s alright-”</p>
<p>“It’s not!” Galo twisted himself in the swing, the chains crossing so he could turn to look at Lio next to him. Lio’s face softened, his expression worried. Galo bit his lower lip, “Sorry, I just...it pissed me off.”</p>
<p>He wasn’t usually an angry person. Headstrong, stubborn, and maybe a bit boorish at times, but not angry. He just couldn’t stomach the idea of people talking about Lio like that. </p>
<p>Lio managed a smile, “It’s kind of sweet that you’d defend my honor like that. You don’t need to, for future reference, but I do appreciate the thought.”</p>
<p>“Well, yeah! Of course!” Galo exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air dramatically. He hadn’t thought twice about leaping to Lio’s defense- that’s what had gotten him into this whole mess in the first place.</p>
<p>Lio jumped off the swing, grabbing Galo’s wrists that were still thrown in the air. He leaned forward and kissed Galo’s lips, surprising the other man. When he pulled back, Galo was grinning at him, all his huffy anger deflated. At the very least, Galo was as easy to read as ever.</p>
<p>Lio moved his hands, pressing their palms together and lacing his fingers between Galo’s. </p>
<p>“So, how <i>did</i> you know I’d be here?” Galo asked, his curiosity coming back now that he wasn’t so annoyed.</p>
<p>“Like I said, you’re predictable. This was your favorite place to come when you were little. It just makes sense that you’d still be attached.”</p>
<p>“I just liked it because I got to be alone with you!” Galo said, standing up. He held fast to Lio’s hands, loving the way the blush blossomed across his cheeks.</p>
<p>“Galo! Don’t say things like that!” Lio said, his voice slightly distressed with embarrassment. </p>
<p>“But it’s true,” Galo said, leading Lio over to the jungle gym. He let go of Lio’s hands in favor of grabbing the monkey bars just barely above his head, “These old things are so rusty I don’t think anyone else wanted their kids playing on it.”</p>
<p>“Are you accusing me of being a bad babysitter?” Lio asked, crossing his arms but smiling at Galo, “I carried you across these things more times than I can remember, don’t be ungrateful.”</p>
<p>Galo gave the bars an experimental tug, finding the structure to still be pretty solid despite the rust. He lifted his legs and hung off the bar, doing a couple pull-ups with ease, “Yeah, and now look at me!”</p>
<p>Lio covered his mouth with his hand, hiding part of his face, “Mm-hm. Impressive.”</p>
<p>With a little oof from the effort, Galo landed easily on the ground once again, “Hey, I have an idea. Close your eyes, I wanna play a game.”</p>
<p>“A game?”</p>
<p>“Yeah! Close your eyes and count to fifteen.”</p>
<p>“Hide and seek?” Lio asked, moving his hands to cover his face, “You really want to take a trip down memory lane tonight, huh?” Galo could hear the groan in his voice.</p>
<p>“Just count! And don’t peek!” Galo insisted, waiting for Lio to let out his little sigh and begin counting down. As soon as he did, the boy sped off towards the main part of the jungle gym, climbing up to the tallest part and hiding in the opening of the enclosed slide. He held on to the sides to keep himself from slipping while he waited for Lio to finish his countdown.</p>
<p>“Ready or not, here I come!” Lio shouted, uncovering his eyes. Galo couldn’t really see him from where he was, but he could hear the crunching of mulch over the sound of cicadas buzzing in the night air. He was wandering around the perimeter of the park, probably checking all the old spots Galo used to hide in like under the picnic tables or behind the trash cans. Clearly, he hadn’t realized yet that Galo had moved on to more advanced tactics.</p>
<p>After a few moments, Lio climbed on to the jungle gym, squinting his eyes to try and see better in the dim lighting. Galo waited a little longer, until Lio passed by the slide entrance without even looking inside. He crawled out silently and with a sharp, “gotcha!” he hugged Lio’s waist from behind, wrapping him tight in his arms. </p>
<p>Lio let out a loud cry, a mix of a laugh and Galo’s name as he was ambushed with kisses on the side of his neck.</p>
<p>“I win!” Galo laughed, squeezing Lio close to his chest as he nuzzled him close, “what’s my prize, huh? Huh?”</p>
<p>“That’s not how hide and seek works!” Lio said, laughing as Galo tickled him, nose brushing his neck. He lifted him up off the ground slightly, Lio’s legs kicking out, “It’s hide and seek, not hide and <i>assault</i>!”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” Galo set Lio back down on the ground and spun him around. He looked so cute and slightly disoriented, nose wrinkling as he laughed, airy and out of breath. Galo pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose before locking lips once again, arms still wrapped tight around his waist. </p>
<p>“I just can’t help myself around you,” Galo breathed in between their kiss, satisfied as Lio’s playful laughs turned to sweet hums of approval. After a moment, He felt Lio’s slim fingers wrap around his wrists, the smaller boy pulling back. He was panting, eyes half-lidded and pupils dilated in the dim lighting. He shivered when Galo threaded his fingers under the hem of his shirt, brushing the small of his back.</p>
<p>“Galo,” the blond admonished, voice low, “I should take you home now. It’s getting late.”</p>
<p>“I wanna do it,” Galo said, letting his short nails gently scratch Lio’s back. He smiled as the smaller boy jumped a little, blush spreading to his ears.</p>
<p>“Wh-what? Galo, that’s- you’re not serious- <i>here</i>!?” he sputtered, looking around. It was a nice setting in theory, with the moonlight and the gentle breeze and the soft sounds of summer in the background, but in reality it was an old rusty jungle gym that <i>children</i> still played on albeit rarely. It was a jungle gym that he and Galo had <i>also</i> played on when he was a child, Lio’s brain unhelpfully supplied. There was no way he was going to allow Galo to rope him into something like that.</p>
<p>“Why not? No one’s here. It’s just us,” Galo insisted, peppering kisses to Lio’s jawline. </p>
<p>“<i>Why not</i>?” Lio echoed, laughing in slight disbelief at Galo’s question, “Because we’re in a public park, you insatiable beast. Not to mention it’s filthy up here.”</p>
<p>“Aww, c’mon,” Galo whined, pulling back and pouting at Lio. The black eye only amplified how pitiful he looked. Lio almost felt bad for him, reminded of the fact that he’d gotten that shiner from defending him, after all.</p>
<p>Still, he wasn’t going to budge on this. They weren’t going to have sex up here, for crying out loud- not to mention, Lio thought, this was likely Galo’s first time and he was certain neither of them were prepared. </p>
<p>“No, Galo,” Lio chided, voice firm. “Not tonight, okay?”</p>
<p>Galo perked up at that, eyes brightening slightly. Not tonight meant maybe another night, and he seemed more than alright with that bit of hope. </p>
<p>Still, Lio felt a little bad for everything. It had been sweet of him to leap to his defense, and Galo must have been fairly stressed out from the whole thing if he’d been hanging out in this nearly abandoned park for a few hours. He’d nearly lost a position on the football team, after all. Lio hummed, bringing a hand up to trace Galo’s strong jawline. </p>
<p>“Perhaps we could do something else, hm?” Lio asked, tentatively. If he thought Galo had perked up before, his eyes were practically sparkling with excitement now.</p>
<p>“Yeah? Like what?”</p>
<p>“Well…” Lio started, finger trailing down Galo’s neck and collar bone til he was touching his chest with light circular motions, “I figure you deserve something for what you did today. To de-stress. I’ll give you a treat. Anything short of <i>doing it</i>, as you so lovingly put it earlier, of course.”</p>
<p>Galo blinked at him, the gears in his mind turning slowly as he gave Lio’s offer consideration. </p>
<p>“Anything?” he asked after a moment.</p>
<p>“Anything,” Lio affirmed, flattening his palm against Galo’s chest, the warmth seeping into his skin, “within reason, of course.” He added, before he had a chance to regret this decision too much.</p>
<p>“I wanna watch you jerk off, then,” Galo said, his voice excited. Lio faltered, unsure if he’d heard him correctly. He’d been expecting another blowjob or something along those lines, not...this.</p>
<p>“You- what? Like, you want to jerk off <i>while</i> I’m jerking off, or…?”</p>
<p>“No, I just- I just wanna watch you-” Galo insisted, at least having the decency to blush at this. Lio responded similarly, face turning redder the more Galo talked. It didn’t make things less awkward, “I mean, I’ve thought about you a lot. Uh, like, what you must look like when you’re getting yourself off and stuff. I just really wanna see how you make yourself feel good, and I bet your face is really cute when- uh, does this sound creepy?” </p>
<p>“A little,” Lio confirmed, his head spinning a bit with everything Galo was saying.</p>
<p>“So, will you?” Galo asked, just as hopeful as always.</p>
<p>Lio looked up at his face, that same dopey smile only slightly off-put by the dark blue bruising around his left eye. It had always been hard for him to say no to Galo when he sent him that shining smile, but the extra pang of guilt didn’t help.</p>
<p>Hesitantly, he agreed, “Alright. How- um...how do you want me to…?”</p>
<p>“However you normally do it!” Galo exclaimed, excitedly.</p>
<p>“I don’t usually do it in public standing on top of a jungle gym!” Lio replied, glancing around at the ground briefly just to make sure no one was around. Galo must have picked up on his discomfort, because he grabbed Lio’s arms and tugged him down with him as he sat on the floor of the jungle gym.</p>
<p>It helped to keep them obscured, the worn plastic walls providing some sense of privacy, at least. Galo pulled Lio between his legs, still facing him. He leaned back on his hands, settling in and looking expectantly at the older blond.</p>
<p>Lio swallowed thickly, staring back at Galo for a moment before he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It didn’t help calm his heart beat down.</p>
<p>There was no way this was going to work like this. </p>
<p>Lio opened his eyes again and grabbed Galo’s shoulders, gently pushing him down and moving so he could straddle Galo’s hips. The boy looked at him with mild confusion, but didn’t protest as he complied with the new position.</p>
<p>“I need something to look at, at least,” Lio explained, grabbing the hem of Galo’s fitted T-shirt. He rolled the cloth up, pads of his thumbs dragging over the hard muscle and soft skin until the fabric was bunched up near his collar bone. It was quite a lovely thing to look at, too- his chest and sculpted abs exposed to the cool night air. Distracted, Lio let his hands roam for a moment, pinching one of Galo’s nipples between his fingers. </p>
<p>The way he gasped at the sensation was enough to stir Lio’s cock, but he wanted more. Digging a blunt nail into the areola drew another sharp noise from Galo’s lips, before he moved on to fully cupping his tits in his hands, surprisingly malleable and sensitive if Galo’s reactions were anything to go by.</p>
<p>“Aren’t you supposed to be touching <i>yourself</i>?” Galo asked, smirking up at Lio in a way that suggested he was almost proud of how easily he’d driven Lio off-course.</p>
<p>The blond huffed, trying to save face, “All part of the show, Galo,” he sat back on Galo’s thighs, reaching his hand between his legs and palming at his crotch through his pants for a few moments before flicking the button open and undoing his fly. He pulled the waistband of his underwear down. He brought his hand to his mouth and licked his palm, wet and messy, before easily taking his half-hard cock in his hand. </p>
<p>He glanced up at Galo, whose smug look had fallen in favor of fascination. He looked so intense, eyes fixated on Lio’s hand like he was studying him intently. It was less embarrassing than he would have thought, having Galo’s gaze locked on to him. It was easy to forget they were still in public when it just felt like the two of them, too.</p>
<p>The thought of getting caught passed Lio’s mind briefly, but it only served to make his dick grow harder in his palm as he pumped the length of it slowly. Lio bit his bottom lip, eyelids fluttering shut as he let out a soft moan. While Lio didn’t really want anyone <i>else</i> for an audience, there was something erotic about the way Galo was sitting and watching him obediently, hands at his sides like he didn’t want to touch or interrupt anything.</p>
<p>Lio’s eyes wandered back down to Galo’s chest, the way his tits stuck out and tapered to his thin waist, his sweatpants hanging low on his waist. It didn’t leave much to the imagination, between the deep V-shape of his hip bones and the trail of short, blue hairs that ran from his navel to the waistband.</p>
<p>Lio hadn’t really gotten a chance to admire all of Galo’s hard work like this from afar yet, save for a few quick peeks here and there. All of their interactions had been flushed together and quick, messy, needy. As much as Lio said he was the one giving the show, it might have been quite the opposite, with the way Lio was taking him all in.</p>
<p>“Can you pull your shirt up, too?” Galo asked, breaking the silence between them and shaking Lio out of his thoughts. </p>
<p>Well, he had said he’d do just about anything Galo wanted. Lio stopped stroking himself in favor of grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it up. Without a free hand, he shoved the cotton between his teeth and wrapped his hand around his erection again.</p>
<p>“Lio, you’re so cute,” Galo cooed, voice low and deep, “Can you believe you used to be so much bigger than me? So much taller? I bet I could almost wrap my hands around your waist if I tried.”</p>
<p>Lio let out a groan in response, the sound muffled by the cloth in his mouth. The thought of Galo wrapping his big hands around him, fingertips meeting around the small of his back while his thumbs pressed on his stomach, made him stroke himself faster, his dick filling out in his palm.</p>
<p>“Do you usually finger yourself when you do this?” he asked, eyes half-lidded as he looked up at Lio’s face and met his gaze. Lio grimaced, always amazed by Galo’s shamelessness. </p>
<p>Lio let his shirt fall from his mouth, the fabric awkwardly falling halfway down his chest. “Sometimes,” He replied, voice breathy. He glanced down at the boy under him, cutting him off before he could say anything else, “No, Galo.”</p>
<p>“Aww, but I bet you look so hot,” Galo hummed, amused, “even if your fingers don’t feel as good as my dick splitting you open, yeah?”</p>
<p>“Ah-Galo-” Lio whined, lithe fingers twisting under the head of his cock, coaxing a bead of precum from the tip, “Don’t you know how to be quiet?”</p>
<p>“Nope.” Galo moved a hand to Lio’s knee, running his hand up his thigh, fingers brushing the hem of his shorts and sending a shiver down Lio’s spine. “I bet you’d feel really good, too. Tight. That pert little ass swallowing-”</p>
<p>“Galo!” Lio gasped, feeling a little dizzy as he moved his hand faster, warmth pooling in the pit of his stomach, “Wh-where did you learn that filth?”</p>
<p>“I learned a lot while you went away to college. Porn, mostly, though.”</p>
<p>At least he was honest, Lio thought with a groan, “Just shut up.” He layered his hand atop Galo’s, which had been resting on his thigh. He let out a soft keen as Galo’s nails dug into the soft skin on his thighs. With a few more strokes, Lio came undone and pressed his cock downward, aiming towards Galo’s cleavage. Strands of cum splattered over his tits and abdomen, his dick twitching as he rode out his orgasm.</p>
<p>He continued to lazily stroke himself, drops of cum spilling on to Galo’s abs, pooling in the dips of his muscle. God, this was a mental image he’d need to remember.</p>
<p>“Fuck. Gonna remember this,” Galo echoed, staring at Lio, lips parted as he panted. Lio swiped his fingers over the cum gathered on his torso, bringing his fingers up to Galo’s parted lips. Curiously, he let Lio slip his fingers into his mouth, tongue wrapping around the digits and tasting the cum on his fingers. The blond slipped them out of his mouth, pressing his palm flat against one of Galo’s pecs. </p>
<p>He leaned back, his ass dragging over Galo’s hard dick straining against his pants. “Seems like you might need it later.”</p>
<p>“Tease,” Galo whined, face flushed.</p>
<p>“You quite literally asked for it.”</p>
<p>“I hoped you might take pity on me,” He shot back, wryly, before letting himself lay completely flat against the floor of the jungle gym. He waited a moment, but Lio didn’t move beyond tucking his dick back into his pants. “What, you’re really not gonna?”</p>
<p>“Not gonna what?” Lio mocked, “You said you just wanted to watch. You seem like you enjoyed the show quite a lot.”</p>
<p>Galo groaned, closing his eyes, “Lio…” he whined, dragging out the ‘o’ sound in his name.</p>
<p>“I’ll happily help you get cleaned up,” Lio said, his voice sweet and self-satisfied as he dipped his fingers in the cum on Galo’s stomach again, “open up.”</p>
<p>Galo obeyed, opening his mouth and sticking out his tongue. The display was erotic, the interaction intimate. If Lio hadn’t just cum, he probably would’ve been hard from the way Galo sucked on his fingers, gentle but intent. It wasn’t an efficient method, but it at least helped a little when Lio finally rolled his shirt back down.</p>
<p>“We need to get you home, dear. Your mother is going to kill me if I return empty-handed.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Catch me on twitter @spiciestmiso I draw galolio lewds too!!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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